To Be Stubborn
by muzikchic4eva
Summary: When Rima accuses that Nagihiko's kindness is only pity, he decides to show her that it's not pity but friendship and..something else? Will Rima allow herself to fall in love? Meanwhile, a new enemy appears who targets Rima's biggest weaknesses. DISCONTINUED
1. the outburst

**Muzikchic: Hey, this is my first fanfic ever! Yeah! (geez, someone's hyper today…) Presenting, "To Be Stubborn", a rimahiko fanfic!**

**Rima: … I think you overdid it, muzikchic…**

**Nagihiko: I agree with Rima-chan**

**Rima: *blushes* don't call me that! **

**Nagihiko: why? You never complained when I called you that before…**

**Rima: well… it's because-**

**Muzikchic: you love Nagi! *smirks***

**RIma: don't complete my sentences for me! **

**Muzikchic: someone please do the disclaimer…**

**Nagihiko: Shugo Chara, the characters, and any words from the manga that she has used in this chapter don't belong to muzikchic.**

**Muzikchic: This chappie begins at the end of Shugo Chara! Encore! CH. 2! (once again, I DON'T OWN!) **

**

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

"…I said it earlier. I won't cry" Although that's what I said, tears began to build up in my eyes and they seemed to not want to stop. It was hard to not cry this whole time after hearing about Mama and Papa's divorce.

I felt something soft wipe away the tear that had rolled down my cheek. My eyes widened when my face was turned to face Nagihiko whose hand was caressing my cheek. He smiled gently at me as I blushed at how close his face was to mine.

"You shouldn't because tears don't suit you, smiles do." Nagihiko told me that smiles suit me? Why is he so nice, when all I've done is be mean to him, tease him about 'nadeshiko', and whatnot? I couldn't understand him. Scratch that, I CAN'T!

"LIAR! Stop with all the lies already! All this kindness you show me is all just pity, right? You feel sorry for me now that my parents are divorced! You know about my horrible past and present! If you're going to be a liar and be nice to me only because of that then I don't want to see you ever again! I HATE YOU!" I ran away from him, the tears flowing freely now. Kusukusu trailed behind me after giving Nagihiko a sympathetic smile.

What I said was the truth, right? There's no other reason I can think of. I didn't want to think of him as a liar. I didn't want MYSELF to be a liar. I would be lying if I didn't say what I did. I would be taking advantage of his kindness and saying i wasn't would be the biggest lie I ever said. For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to lie to him.

There was something about him that weakened all the barriers I carefully built around myself. And I was scared of what might happen when the barriers fully broke.

My legs carried me home and I shut myself in my room. There was silence around the house for once and I knew Mama must have gone grocery shopping while Papa was at his new house. Curling up into a ball, I sobbed loudly. I felt terrible for saying that to Nagihiko but what could I do? Should i have told a white lie back in the park? I could do nothing about it now.

"Look, Rima! A funny face!" Kusukusu tried to cheer me up, hoping for a smile. I softly smiled and pulled her into a hug. Kusukusu hugged me back and sat on my shoulder. "Ne, Rima, what are you going to do now? You yelled at Nagi. Are you going to apologize? I can still play with Rhythm and Temari, right?"

I sighed. "I don't know Kusukusu. I don't know."

**Nagi's POV**

"That was a fail, Nagi. You made her feel worse than before. You saw her crying when she left us, right?"

"Be quiet, Rhythm. Don't make it worse for Nagihiko. "

"But, Temari, you saw her right? It's so uncool to make a girl cry."

"Shut up, Rhythm!" I snapped at him. He looked sheepishly at the ground as I glared at him. I sighed. "Sorry. I didn't mean it. It's just so frustrating. Why does Rima-chan have to be so stubborn?"

"It can be because it's her personality, Nagihiko. And the fact that you lied to Amu about being Nadeshiko. When will you tell Amu about it?"

"I don't know. Won't she faint from shock? Her best friend, Nadeshiko, is actually a guy whom she believes to be Nadeshiko's twin." I added a bit of sarcasm at the end to prove my point.

"I guess so." Temari sighed, looking thoughtfully out the window.

"Putting that aside, what are you going to do when you see Rima? Dude, you can't avoid her forever."

After thinking about it, a brilliant plan entered my head. "I have an idea but it might make her angrier at me… But it's the best that I can do."

"Nagi, go for it!"

"Yeah!"

* * *

**Rima's POV**

"Achoo!" I sneezed. Seriously, was someone talking about me? That can't be possible, sneezing because someone talks about you only happens in manga, not in real life.

It was the next day, a Saturday. I sat on my bed against the pillow with earplugs in my ears and ipod in hand as I listened to my favorite song, _Itsuka wa Romansu_ (**A/N: I don't own the song!**) I could relate to it. I closed my eyes and relaxed but not before i remembered that weird dream from last night.

_Flashback_

_Coughing, I looked at my surroundings. Smoke and shadows were all I saw when I tried to look around. Not too far off, I saw a figure that had long flowing hair. Hoping it'd be Nagihiko, I heard yells coming from me._

_"Nagihiko?Is that you? Nagihiko! Answer me!" _

_All i got back was silence. My coughing fit grew worse as i tried to keep my gaze on the figure. I finally collapsed on the floor when i saw it turn around and look at me. I couldn't see it's face so i couldn't tell if it was Nagihiko or not. I looked up hopefully at it before the coughing fit returned and the figure was already walking away. _

_"Nagihiko, if that's really you, COME BACK!" I screamed as well as I could but more smoke than necessary reached my lungs and it was hard to breathe. _

_Suddenly the floor turned into quicksand and I started to try an avoid it but it was no use. So I let myself be drowned. There was no point in living, right? My parents are divorced, and everyone else hates me (except kusukusu...). I just wish I could have said good-bye._

_Right before the quicksand covered me completely, a hand grabbed mine. _

_End Flashback  
_

And that was when i woke up, panting and sweating. Kusukusu was looking at me worriedly but i smiled to reassure her. I didn't think she completely bought it though.

The songs on my ipod slowly played through the playlist before i realized my stomach was making sounds. Even if no one was around, i blushed and went downstairs to get a snack. I was looking through the refrigerator for some cake when i heard the doorbell ring.

"Coming!" I shouted to whoever's at the door. But when i opened it, I saw the person i last expected to see.

That person was...

* * *

**Rima: please don't make that person be nagihiko.**

**Muzikchic: why not? the whole point of this fanfic is to get you guys to confess and go out.**

**Rima: *blushes* **

**Nagihiko: muzikchic, don't tease Rima please**

**Muzikchic: oho, so you're the only one who can? I'm the author! You guardians are at my mercy! MUAHAHAHAHA! **

**Rima: i think she's gone insane. **

**Nagihiko: You're right.**

**Rima: R&R for muzikchic's sake. any suggestions for future chapters are welcome. *turns to muzikchic* I did my job, happy?**

**Muzikchic: Yup! Thanks! Oh, and before i forget, Rima's dream is metamorphical. I won't explain what it means, though. ^_^  
**


	2. the plan isn't so bad, after all?

**Muzikchic: Hi! Kyaaa, I'm so excited to see who's at Rima's house right now! I can't wait to see who it is!**

**Rima: Aren't you the author? You're supposed to know. What an idiot…**

**Muzikchic: You're so mean, Rima-chi! Oops, I'm talking like Yaya. Sorry!**

**Rima: Whatever.**

**Muzikchic: Anyways, Shugo Chara doesn't belong to me. **

**Rima: Finally, the lazy author decides to do the disclaimer herself! **

**Muzikchic: Yeah, yeah. You're just grumpy that Nagi isn't here with us today. **

**Rima: WHAT?**

**Muzikchic: Thanks to greenluvr14 who put up a review to me, it was my first ever! Thanks so much~**

**Rima: HEY, no subject changes! **

**

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

I stared in shock at the person who stood in front of me in the doorway.

"Amu? Why are you here? How did you get my address?"

Amu stared at me as if I was crazy. She was wearing a striped cardigan and a red tanktop underneath with a black miniskirt and black knee-length boots. Ran, Miki, and Su hovered behind her as they looked around me for Kusukusu. "How'd I get your address? You told it to me, remember? Are you okay, Rima?"

"I'm fine, Amu. So what's up?" Amu's face brightened up into excitement and all I could think was 'uh-oh'.

"Nadeshiko's back!" I narrowed my eyes at this. Amu continued, "She came back for a dance performance that was yesterday! Although I wish she could've contacted me before the performance started, she said we can hang out today! She said it was okay if you came too!"

If Nagihiko was around and he saw the furious expression that was on my face, he would've died in an instant. So this was his way of meeting me, huh? Dressing up as Nadeshiko and telling Amu that 'she' was here in Japan so that Amu would bring me with her? Seriously, that's the worst thing he could've come up with. He better know that his plan won't work at all. I'm not going.

"Ne, Rima, why do you look so angry? Did I say something wrong?" Amu looked curiously at me. I immediately put a smile on my face as Kusukusu laughed.

"No, I don't look angry. You must have been imagining it." I smiled a sickening sweet smile at her and she sweat-dropped.

"O-okay, then. Well, are coming? To meet with Nadeshiko?" Amu looked at me with pleading eyes, the sparkles surrounding her again. I sighed. I was weak to Amu's sparkling face. I just know I will regret coming with her.

"Fine, I'll come. But the story is that you forced me, ok?"

"Yay, Rima's coming!" Amu squealed as she jumped up and down. Kusukusu laughed hysterically as I softly smiled.

"Just wait a second. I have to change, got it?" Amu nodded as she walked in and I closed the door before running into my room, leaving Amu in the living room.

* * *

**Nagihiko's POV**

So my 'brilliant plan' was to dress up as Nadeshiko and get Amu to persuade Rima to come. Then spend the day with Amu and Rima and apologize to her somewhere in between all the chaos that is to come. The chaos being a short, blonde girl who'll try to drop hints every other second to a clueless Amu. I practically asked for a death wish by doing this.

"Nagi, this is seriously a bad plan! What were you thinking?" Rhythm started scolding me and now I don't give a damn. I started this whole mess with Rima yesterday so I'm going to fix it.

"I don't know what I was thinking! But I guess Amu-chan will be happy to see Nadeshiko again, huh?" I sighed. I really hated wearing skirts.

"Ha, you actually do like cross-dressing!" Rhythm smirked at me while laughing his head off. Temari looked as if she would murder him. She took the cross-dressing seriously, seeing as it was my dance training that mom gave me. (**A/N: Temari and dancing? Anyone make the connection?) **

"Think whatever you want." I sat on a bench in the park. My hair was in a ponytail with a red ribbon and I was wearing a knee-length purple skirt with a pink shirt that had elbow-length sleeves. It was only at times where I have to be with Rima-chan that I hated cross-dressing. As much as I love her, she can be a devil in disguise. SHIT, did I just say that I loved her? We're only friends, damn it!

"Nadeshiko! Long time no see! Did you wait long?" I looked up to see Amu running towards me. I smiled as I stood up.

"Nope, not at all! I'm sorry I couldn't contact you earlier; I was being kept busy with dance rehearsals." At this I felt Rima glaring at my obvious lie. In actuality I was with Rima looking at the peach blossoms. (**A/N: Disclaimer! I don't own Shugo Chara Encore Ch. 2!) **I laughed nervously.

"It's okay. You met Rima the last time you visited, right? I'm so happy she could come with us!" Amu began to ramble on and on. I ignored her ramble when I looked over to Rima. She was standing there looking at the ground dejectedly. She probably still is jealous over me and Amu's friendship and Amu was pretty much ignoring her right now in her excitement to see 'Nadeshiko'. I felt sorry for her when Kusukusu even began to make a funny face for Rima.

"Mashiro-san? Do you want to go anywhere?" I called out to her from behind Amu. When she looked up with a surprised look on her face, I smiled while adding a giggle that I know Nadeshiko would do.

". . .There's no place in particular where I want to go." She said quietly.

"Okay, then! Let's go watch a movie! Then we could go shopping and get food! How's that?" Amu winked at us with a sparkly face. Then a second later, She started freaking out on Ran and chasing her around. "RAN! Don't just chara change on me all of a sudden!" Ran screamed and complained as she was chased out of the park, leaving Rima-chan and me alone.

"Eh, isn't this awkward, Mashiro-san? We barely know each other." I kept up my Nadeshiko act just in case Amu came running back with a half-dead Ran.

"Stop acting, Nagihiko. The real purpose of coming here today as Nadeshiko was to talk to me, right? So talk." Rima snapped at me. I flinched at her harsh tone.

"Fine, Rima-chan. You win." I changed my voice back to normal. "About yesterday, I really am so- HEY, ARE YOU LISTENING?" I yelled at her. She was sitting on the bench reading a gag manga she must have brought with her. She was softly laughing with Kusukusu as she flipped the pages. She looked up to see me with an angry face. She smirked.

"I said you could talk. I never said I would listen." She continued reading her manga as I let out an exasperated sigh.

"I should never have tried to apologize for yesterday then. What's the point of apologizing when the person won't even listen to it?" I turned around and started walking. "I'm going to find Amu-chan. She can't have gone far." I fully intended to leave her there on the bench. I knew it seemed like a complete character change to not be the considerate person I was. Maybe Rhythm was rubbing off on me. He always seemed to do things without thinking things over which was exactly what I was doing now. My conscience was telling me not to leave and talk it out with Rima-chan but I'm so infuriated with her stubborn side.

At least she knew I tried to apologize.

Then, a felt a small hand grab my wrist and I looked back to see Rima-chan standing there looking at the ground again. She looked up at me with apologetic yet stubborn face that was so cute I had to smile.

Her stubborn side was so annoying but it really can be cute.

* * *

**Rima's POV**

Why did my body act on its own? I hate him, remember? Stupid me.

Fate is always doing this to me, huh? Letting me find hope in various people and then taking it away so I'm left with insecurities and problems. I'm always being tortured in some way or another.

"Rima-chan? Are you okay?" Nagihiko was looking at me worriedly. The only thing is, I didn't see him, I saw Nadeshiko. **(A/N: Remember he's in Nadeshiko mode right now! It's only the voice that's different)**

"P-put your hair down, you look too much like Nadeshiko." I looked away blushing. I could feel his smirk even when I was staring at the ground!

"Oh? But I thought you got along better with Nadeshiko?"

"S-shut up!" I was glaring at him while his smirk widened.

"RIMA WATCH OUT!" Wasn't that Amu's voice? I turned my head around only to see Ran crashing into me. I felt myself bumping into something before falling to the ground.

"Ouch…" I winced. Ran was on the floor in a daze. Miki and Su crowded around her as Amu ran up to me.

"Rima, Nadeshiko, I'm so sorry!" Wait, why was she apologizing to Nagihiko? I looked in front of me to see Nagihiko on the ground opposite from me. When I bumped into him, he must have fallen down from the impact too. I slowly stood up and helped him up. He looked at me surprised but all I did was smile at him. That was before I realized I was supposed to hate him so I immediately put a scowl on my face. When I looked at him from the corner of my eyes, he seemed pretty disappointed.

"It's okay, Amu. So you want to go to the movies? Let's go." I stood there bored out of my mind. I planned to humiliate Nagihiko as much as I could today in front of Amu about him being Nadeshiko. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm just plain bored.

"Okay, Rima! Let's go to the movies, Nadeshiko!" Amu called out to Nadeshiko. I sent an evil smirk and I swear I saw goosebumps all over him. I silently laughed.

Today was going to be hell for Nagihiko Fujisaki.

That's what i thought but for some reason, it felt wrong. It was as if something was telling me that i shouldn't take out my frustration on a person that just wants to help. It was telling me that i already took out my frustration on him yesterday and that was enough. There was definitely a gap in my heart and i didn't know what to do to fill it up. Letting out my frustration seemed good enough right now.

* * *

**Nagihiko's POV**

Now i know for sure that the plan won't work. The devil was now staring at me with the most evil smirk that i have seen in my life. I swear i felt goosebumps from that smirk alone.

"Ne, Nadeshiko, are you okay? Why are you sweating?" Amu looked at me worriedly.

"I'm fine, Amu-chan,I'm fine!" I quickly reassured her.

"Okay, if you say so."

"Nadeshiko," I turned to look at Rima who was staring at me. "why do you always put your hair up into a ponytail? Why don't you ever put it down?" I panicked. When I put my hair down, i turn into myself and not Nadeshiko. If I put my hair down Amu will know that Nadeshiko doesn't exist!

"U-um... It's because..."

"I never saw you with your hair down, Nadeshiko. Could you do it for once? Please?" Amu looked at me pleadingly. I saw Rima smirking again. Why is she so obsessed with making my life miserable?

"U-um... I'm not sure, you see, I like my hair up in a ponytail..."

"Just once! Pretty please with sugar on top!" Amu made her sparkling face again while Rima was trying not to laugh hysterically.

"O-okay, Amu-chan." I slowly took out the ribbon and let my hair fall down my shoulders. I stood there waiting for the telltale scream and soon enough it came.

"Nadeshiko, you look like Nagihiko! You guys resemble each other so much! So much that..." I sighed. My cover was ruined.

"Nah, I must be crazy. There's no way that you are the same people, right? You're twins, for heaven's sake!" Amu laughed at her silliness.

I sighed in relief while Rima was- what was she doing?

Rima was watching a family having a picnic nearby us. The mother and father were laughing happily with their child as they ate their lunch. Rima was staring longingly at the three when I realized that the three were her 'ideal family'. A family where the parents never fought, the child was always happy and smiling, and the parents NEVER GOT A DIVORCE.

I knew the divorce was killing her inside. I really wanted to help her. But she hated my guts. She really made that clear yesterday.

God, just forget about yesterday. Pretend it never happened!

"That's the way to think, Nagi!" Rhythm whispered. How did he know what I was thinking? Can shugo charas read their owner's minds?

"Yeah, we can. That's why it's SO obvious we know what you're thinking." Rhythm sarcastically whispered to me. So I'm just that easy to read?

"Nagi, Temari and I can read you like a book. Now find a way to get rid of Amu for while and cheer Rima up!"

"Rhythm's right, Nagihiko."

"Okay." I turned to Amu. "Amu-chan?"

"Nadeshiko? What's up?"

"I'm so sorry but i forgot to tell you i have to leave early today for family reunion at my house. My mom wanted to hold one before I go back so is it okay if I leave first?"

Amu looked disappointed. "Okay, then. Good luck in Europe! Contact me please?" Amu hugged me.

"I will."

"So I'll go home first! Bye!" Amu waved bye before leaving with Ran, Miki, and Su.

When Amu was out of sight, I turned to look at Rima. She didn't notice that Amu left; her eyes were fixed on that family.

I quietly walked over. "Rima-chan. Do you want to go somewhere with me?"

Her eyes widened. "What? Go somewhere with you? What are you planni-"

"OKay, since that's decided I'll meet you here at 5, okay? See you then." I turned around to leave. When i peeked over my shoulder, she was staring at me wide-eyed. I winked at her before leaving.

That's when i realized that there was headphones around my neck. I was so going to kill Rhythm.

* * *

**Rima's POV**

"Heehee, I think Nagi asked you out on a date!" Kusukusu giggled.

"What? He would never do that; he knows how much I hate him!" I indignantly yelled at her.

"But he asked you to go somewhere with him!" She pouted a little. I smiled.

"Yay, Rima smiled!" Kusukusu cheered while she laughed on my shoulder.

I decided to just get some ice cream while I wait. But if it's just a pity act again I'll leave him by himself wherever he's taking me.

And why do I suspect it's a pity act? He caught me staring at the family having a picnic.

* * *

**Muzichic: The chapter's finally done! **

**Nagihiko: Yeah, finally. I can't believe you made me put down my hair so I looked like myself in front of Amu-chan.**

**Amu: Yourself? But why is that a bad thing? Nadeshiko is Nadeshiko, right? Same with Nagihiko.**

**Nagihiko: . . . **

**Muzikchic: OK, we know Amu is clueless in this fanfic. Well anyways, please REVIEW! please with cherries on top! (i actually don't like the maraschino cherries on ice cream though...) **

**Rima: please review.  
**


	3. i'm a liar too I cried after all

**Muzikchic: No flames please because it wasn't Nagihiko at Rima's front door! It had to be the person Rima LAST expected. And she knew in some way or another Nagihiko would come and say sorry so she was actually waiting for that so that's way it wasn't Nagihiko.**

**Muzikchic: phew I finally finished. It's hard to do this without Rima and Nagi. They're off at their date, YAY! Sadly, Rima doesn't view it as a date… *sigh***

**I don't own Shugo Chara! Or **_**Itsuka wa Romansu…**_** I love that song, though! It's Rima's feelings towards Nagi! **

**

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

"Sorry for making you wait, Rima-chan!"

I looked up from my seat at the bench we were earlier at with Amu. Nagihiko was standing there, panting with his hands on his knees. He seemed to have run all the way here. Finally, he wasn't in his fake Nadeshiko disguise, but in normal clothes that seemed to fit him so much better- WHY WAS I THINKING THIS? I don't like Nagihiko! Wait, why do I go to the conclusion of my liking him when I don't? I don't understand! I won't fall for a guy who's only kind to me because of pity.

Never will that happen. Because love is fickle and easily changed. That's what happened to my parents.

"Whatever. So where are you taking me? You better make this worthwhile." I stubbornly crossed my arms and turned my head to the side.

"Yes, yes, I know." He chuckled. "I promise you it'll be fun."

I peeked at him from the corner of my eyes to see him smiling at me. I blushed a little.

"You never answered my question. Where are you taking me?" I stood up while Nagihiko smiled wider.

He grabbed my hand and started dragging me towards a direction. "You'll see."

I blushed more when he held my hand. Half of me was my stubborn personality where I didn't want to hold hands with a huge liar like him. But the other half was telling me that I should be happy, that this was meant to be.

Maybe it was true. Maybe I was falling in love with Nagihiko. But so far, it was against my will.

He stopped at an entrance to an amusement park. "Here we are, Rima-chan."

I looked up to see the amusement park Amu showed me once. Why was it still here? "I thought this amusement park was being torn down."

He shook his head. "Originally it was, but some company bought the rights to it and restored it. See? There's a lot of people here today."

I looked around to see a lot of people walking in happily and I heard shrieks and laughter from inside.

"Of all the places, why an amusement park?" I whispered. He smiled again before leading me through the entrance, his hand still firmly holding mine.

"I didn't think you've ever been to one, that's all. It'll be fun! We should go on that ride first…" He continued saying options to go on. I smiled softly. Maybe this 'date' will be fun after all.

-Ten minutes later-

". . . Why did I agree to this?" I was strapped to my seat on a roller coaster. Roller Coaster as in the kind that was huge and went into insanely dangerous loops and twists. I HATED roller coasters. It made me too dizzy afterwards.

"Aww, you know you actually like roller coasters." Nagihiko was teasing me with the smirk I hated so much. I rolled my eyes. "And if it gets too scary you can cling to my arm-"

"As IF I would do that, you cross-dresser!" I snapped at him; a blush had appeared on my face before I could turn my head. He silently laughed.

"Don't laugh at meEEEEE!" I screamed as the roller coaster started to drop down into a sharp incline at a fast pace. One hand clung to Nagihiko's arm and he seemed surprised at that. He was the one who suggested it, for God's sake! Before long, he started smiling. I was too scared to notice my hand was stilling clutching his arm even after the ride was done. He smiled at me again. He smiles WAY too often. But I guess that's the best part of him: his kindness.

**(A/N:Please listen to **_**Itsuka wa Romansu **_**while you read from here~)**

"I thought you said you wouldn't cling to my arm. It's not like I don't mind but…" He trailed off as I blushed and immediately let go of his arm.

"S-shut up! I just felt dizzy!" I made up an excuse. He smiled at my poor excuse.

"But still, it's nice to scream every once in a while, right? You must be feeling frustrated after everything that's happened."

_Houkago oshaberi, Yuuyake no nioi  
Ano koto yorimichi, Nanigenai furishite, Kitaishiteiru no ne_

Now that I think about it, I did feel a little better. All the emotions I kept bottled up because of my parents' divorce and what happened yesterday seemed to have gone away a little.

Suddenly I burst out into laughter and for some reason I couldn't stop. Nagihiko stared at me, confused at my laughter before he began to laugh also.

_Shiroi BURAUSU tsuburetiru kaban Suzushii kaze kimi no atsui shisen_

"Ne, Nagihiko, can you get that for me?" I pointed towards a cute bag and teddy bear that came in a set as a prize from a basketball game. The bag had a cute flower design with a cat dressed as a clown. The teddy bear was a white with gold angel wings on the back. He laughed quietly at the clown picture on the bag but agreed to get it for me.

After shooting the required number of hoops for the prize, he finally received to bag and teddy bear. He handed it to me while I smiled a true smile and said thanks. The man asked him if I was his girlfriend. I was caught off guard at that question. Just before a blush could appear on my face, I coolly replied, "He's my SERVANT, not my boyfriend."

I got an intense glare from him while I smirked.

_ROMANCHIKKU na koi ni wa, Marude kyoumi ga nai nante,  
Honto wa me mo awase rarenakute,  
Noshimo honto ni watashi o, Suki da nante iu nara, Omoikiri warawasete misete_

"Nagihiko, can I ride the carousel?" I looked at the carousel with longing eyes. When he smirked and nodded, my face shone with excitement and I dragged him with me; the panic I caused for him gave him the most hilarious expression that I had to laugh. But the laugh came out as a giggle that made him blush slightly. I giggled more at that.

_Hajimete shitta wa, Fushigi na kimochi ne Ano ko mo watashi mo, Minna dare datte, DORAMA no HIROIN  
Himitsu no DAIARII, Mune ni shimatteru  
Mukae ni kuru, Itsuka wa ROMANSU_

As I rode the carousel, I remembered yesterday's events. Why did I feel like I could tell him anything during the time I spent with him? It felt weird and I couldn't understand the feeling I got while being around him so I asked that he be Nadeshiko. Since he was Nadeshiko back then and not Nagihiko, it was a little easier to tell him. I'm pretty sure even Kusukusu told him about my past. There were no secrets left to write in my heart's diary. Maybe there was only one left, but I'm not completely sure if it was an actual secret or just a budding feeling.

_Yuuenchi no kanransha, Ichiban takai tokoro de  
Kowai wa kiei risouna koe de  
Chiisaku naru machinami wa, Chirakaru omocha hako mitai  
Doushite watashi o suki na no?_

I spotted the Ferris Wheel next. I pointed excitedly while Nagihiko chuckled at my child-like actions throughout this whole outing. I frowned at him; it wasn't my fault this was my first time ever to an amusement park!

Nagihiko and I climbed into one of the carriages and I sat down. The Ferris Wheel started rotating, and I looked out the window to see everything going smaller and smaller as if it was a miniature version that kids could play with. It looked like one of my childhood toys from when Mama and Papa weren't fighting.

I looked at Nagihiko sitting there looking at the view too. Why did he take me to the amusement park? What was the real reason? Why was he so nice to me? I looked dejectedly at the floor when I thought it might be pity again.

_ROMANCHIKKU na koi ni wa, Marude kyoumi ga nai nante  
Honto wa me mo awase rarenakute  
Moshimo honto ni watashi o, Suki da nante iu nara  
Omoikiri warawasete misete._

After we went on many more rides, it was beginning to get dark. We went to the riverside and I sat there staring at the sky, reliving all the fun events today. When Nagihiko sat beside me, I stiffened and moved away from him.

"Why are you so nice to me? It's because of pity, right? That's all there is to it." I asked him bitterly. Really, it was fun today, but just that one word ruined it. It made me insecure about what is the truth and what is not. I didn't need pity; I never did.

"Rima-chan, I saw you looking at that family having the picnic at the park." I was about the make a retort when he interrupted me. "Don't interrupt. I know you miss having a happy family, and I can't do anything to replace that. But I could give you something that'll take your mind off it. You've never been to an amusement park, right?"

I gaped at him. How did he know? He continued, "I knew because according to you, your parents always fought so they probably didn't have time to take you somewhere and have fun. You did have fun today, I could see it in your eyes the whole time."

I lowered my head so my bangs covered my face. How is it that he can read me like a picture book? It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not-

"Rima-chan. My being nice to you isn't pity. Why would it be pity? We're friends. Friends help each other out. It's like the problem with X-Eggs. The X-Eggs represent your family problems, and it's too powerful for you to handle it alone. So everyone else comes to help, right? You've done that on many occasions. Can't you let us do it too?" He started lecturing me. His voice was gentle, it wasn't harsh at all. For a second, I felt that I could believe his words, that it was the truth and not fake this time.

I curled up into a tight ball as I started to cry. I remember telling him I wouldn't, but I couldn't stop them. They kept on pouring down my cheeks uncontrollably, as I sobbed. Before I could push him away, he had pulled me into a hug. It felt comforting to be held when I was down, even Amu never did. She only spoke comforting words and that's it. Nagihiko did both.

"It's okay to cry, Rima-chan. It's okay." He repeated this over for a while before stopping.

I don't know how long I kept on crying in his arms. For a long time, I believed that tears and laughter wasn't necessary in my life. Maybe in other's but not mine. But all of a sudden I enter Seiyo Elementary and it enters my life once again.

After crying, I think I fell asleep in his arms. I remember thinking, "What is the boundary between liking and loving someone? Is it really that bad? Did I put the thought that 'love wasn't necessary' around my heart like a solid rock wall? Is that the barrier I put around myself?"

I didn't know any of the answers.

* * *

**Nagihiko's POV**

Rima finally finished crying. I looked down at her to see a tear-stained face that was sleeping peacefully. I noticed how fragile she looked while she was sleeping. It was like if I hurt her in any way, she would break down completely. But it really was getting late, and her mom would get worried.

I slowly picked her up and decided to give her a piggy-back ride instead of picking her up bridal style. If I walked to her house carrying her like that, her mom would surely freak at me, and that is the last thing i wanted.

I walked over to Rima's house with her on my back. She mumbled in her sleep often saying words like "liar", "divorce", and "teddy bear".

Speaking of which, she was holding her bag and teddy bear right? I looked over my shoulder to see the teddy bear in the bag that now hung on her shoulder. I sighed in relief.

"Nagihiko... Thank you..."

I blushed. She thinks about me in her sleep? I looked over my shoulder cautiously to see her still sleeping. I smiled.

Putting her down, I whispered in her ear, "Rima-chan, you're at home now. Wake up."

She slowly blinked open her eyes and blushed when she realized what must have happened. "You... you carried me here?"

"Yeah, I did. You were sleeping after all. I won't tell anyone you were crying. It's a promise okay? A secret between us."

She numbly nodded as I kissed her forehead. She blushed and looked at me with an annoyed expression with the blush still on her face. "Don't treat me like a kid."

"But you look like one. I'm still more than a foot taller than you. And we're the same age." I laughed. I ruffled her hair when I saw her pout.

"See! You treated me like a kid again, messing up my hair!" She angrily complained as she stomped hard on my foot.

"Oww. You know i need to go home too right?" I winced.

She smirked at me as she took advantage of my slumped over figure to kiss my cheek.

"Thanks for today. But we're enemies tomorrow. Today was only a truce." She gave me a small smile before running into her house.

I stared after her, touching my cheek. I blushed. What I felt for her was only friendship, right?

* * *

**Muzikchic: Please Review! Oh, and if you do, please review before Nagi and Rima comes back from their date because if they see what I wrote in this chapter, they'll freak out.  
**

**Rima: See what?**

**Muzikchic: AGHH, the devil is here! Sorry, got to go Rima bye-bye! *runs away at top speed*  
**

**Don't forget to review! **


	4. Comfort gained but something else lost

**Muzikchic: Thank God I survived the devil the other day. I wasn't sure if I was going to live.**

**Nagihiko: I'll agree with you there. Rima-chan can be the absolute scariest devil on earth if she wanted to. **

**Rima: HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW! **

**Muzikchic: That's why I'm saying it, duh. **

**Nagihiko: you're too harsh, muzikchic. **

**Muzikchic: I know. I'm a sadistic person. *grins evily***

**Rima and Nagihiko: *shivers***

**Muzichic: I don't own Shugo Chara ever! Because if it didn't belong to the author we wouldn't have such an awesome Rima and Nagi so I don't want it~ **

**

* * *

****Normal POV**

-A week later-

"Good Morning, Rima!" Amu cheerfully called out when she spotted her walking towards homeroom with her.

"Good morning." Rima smiled at Amu.

"Amu-chan! Rima-chan! Wait up!" The two friends looked behind them to see Nagihiko and Tadase running up to them, panting. Rima's face hardened at seeing Nagihiko's. It had become an automatic reaction to make her face emotionless whenever she saw him. It was her way of hiding the blush that always appeared on her face. Not to mention, it hid the pain from her parent's divorce.

Whenever Nagihiko asked, Rima always replied, "Mama smiles a lot more now, maybe it was a good thing that she divorced Papa." But that wasn't true. Her mom tried to isolate herself from Rima so much that it was unusual to even see her face or hear her voice. When Rima did, however, all she heard was angry yelling and things being thrown around the bedroom that her mom had shared with her dad. Then afterwards, you could hear was crying that went on endlessly.

Rima wondered if Nagihiko figured anything out because everytime she answered his question he only smiled sadly. He never smiled comfortingly like that time at the amusement park.

Rima smiled softly. The time she spent with Nagihiko that day was the best in her life. It was like they were true friends. Never bickering, but just friends.

Why did that cause pain for her? They were enemies, rivals in Amu's friendship.

"RIma-chan? It's time for homeroom. Are you going to stand in the hallway forever?"

Rima shook herself out of her thoughts and looked coldly at Nagihiko, who held the door open. "I can open the door myself, cross-dresser."

"We're enemies, still?" There was a subtle hint of sadness in his voice. She ignored it and strode into the door.

"Yeah, we are."

Why did her heart feel like a million broken pieces?

* * *

-Time skip to Royal Garden after school-

**Nagihiko's POV**

I sat in the chair, tuning Tadase's monotonous voice out. I couldn't get over what I saw a few days ago.

_Flashback_

"_I have something to do, so eat lunch without me!" Rima hurriedly walked out of the classroom with Kusukusu trailing after her. Amu and Yaya looked at each other and sighed._

"_She's been saying that a lot, ne Amu-chi?" Yaya complained to Amu._

"_Really, she said it way too much. I hope it's not that problem again…"_

_I walked out quickly in the direction Rima took. Where could she have gone? I continued walking around aimlessly when I saw Kusukusu flying around dejectedly. Making sure no one was around I called, "Kusukusu! Where's Rima-chan?"_

_She turned around and immediately started hugging my arm. "Nagi, Rima is so sad right now, I don't know what to do! My gags aren't working as well as they used to!" _

"_What happened to Rima-chan? I thought her mom was fine and smiles more often!" I looked down at her and she shook her head furiously._

"_That was a lie, Nagi. Her mom must have hated her dad so much that Rima is mostly left alone now at home. And when she is home, she throws stuff around her room and cries after. Rima can't do anything about it except listen to it upstairs in her room. It makes her so sad; do something, Nagi!" Kusukusu pleaded. _

_I stood there in shock. All that Rima told me was a lie? Why didn't she want me to know the truth? My chest hurt for a second._

"_Ne, what should I do to make Rima happy again?" Kusukusu asked._

_After thinking, I remembered the chocolate cookies that I brought for the guardians' meeting today. I took two of them out and gave them to Kusukusu. "Try giving her these and do her favorite gag. Don't tell her the cookies were from me." I smiled at her. She beamed._

"_Thanks, Nagi! I'll give these to her now!" She turned to go back where she came from when I thought I should ask two questions._

"_How often is she sad? Where does she go?"_

"_She's sad almost all the time… And to vent she goes up to the roof, she should be there now…" Kusukusu trailed off before hurrying with the sweets._

_End Flashback_

I looked over to Rima. Her eyes were red as if she'd been crying. Why did she have to think that she could handle this by herself? Didn't I give her that example with the X-Eggs? **(A/N: that was ch. 3~) **She can't handle this alone, she needed help! Why couldn't she see that?

I whispered to Rhythm to go ask Kusukusu how it went with the cookies. Lately, I had been giving some to Kususkusu secretly via Rhythm. I hope Rima got them all.

Rhythm nodded and a few minutes later came back. "She said that Rima ate them, but she never actually smiled. She did say thanks, though."

"Thanks for the report, Rhythm." I high-fived him and thankfully nobody noticed.

Finally, the meeting ended and everyone decided to go to the park together after getting some ice cream.

When everyone settled down on a bench, I ended up sitting next to Rima. How that happened? Tadase asked Amu if they could talk for a bit and Yaya decided to spy on them. So now we were alone again.

"-ies…" Rima mumbled. I looked down at her curiously.

"Could you repeat that, Rima-chan? I didn't hear."

She blushed. "I said thanks for the cookies. Kusukusu accidently blurted it out." I looked at Kusukusu who was giggling.

"…So you figured it out?" She softly whispered. "That I was lying to you about my mom."

I sighed. "Yeah, I did. Kusukusu came whining to me one day to help her make you feel better. She told me about your situation." After thinking awhile I looked over at Kusukusu. "You're quite the blabbermouth, aren't you? I told you not to say they were from me."

"Kusukusu," she laughed. "Sorry, Nagi."

"It's okay."

Rima looked over at me cautiously. "I'm going to ask again. Why are you so nice to me?"

I sighed. When will she actually believe that it's not pity? "We had this conversation before, Rima-chan. If you remember any of those, the answer is still the same from before."

"So, it's because we're friends?" She said hesitantly. I nodded patiently. "But I thought we were enemies."

"Only in your mind. Rima-chan, it's okay to tell other people what you're feeling. Or just scream to let it out."

She frowned. "What's the point of telling someone when that person already knows?" My breathing stopped. Was she referring to me? So she was only able to tell me about it? She didn't tell Amu about the divorce yet?

"You didn't tell Amu about the divorce?" I asked her, incredulous. I thought they were best friends.

"I didn't want pity from her too. One person is enough." She continued eating the ice cream in her hands, but there was something about it that bothered me. It was like it pained her to even eat something.

I looked at her sadly. "You must think you're putting up a strong front, huh?" She quickly looked up at me surprised. "You know, it looks like the opposite. It looks like you'll break any moment."

I lightly hugged her in a one-armed embrace so she leaned against my shoulder. "A week ago I said it was okay to cry. Today I'll say it's okay to trust in someone and confide in that person. Let someone else help with the burden."

She stayed leaning against me silently. I was thankful she didn't try to move away.

"Really? It's okay to tell others? They won't treat me with pity?"

I stared at her weirdly. "Seriously, what's with you and pity? Is it that bad to be pitied?"

She kept silent at that. After a long pause, she replied, "I…don't know. Maybe it's because a person feels sorry for me that I hate it. It's different from someone actually willing and caring enough to help me because they care for me as a person."

"Aren't I that person? Can't I be the person that is willing and caring enough to help you?" I asked her as I held her tighter against me. She blushed.

"Nagihiko, I-"

"Rima! Nagihiko!" Amu yelled running towards us. I immediately let go of Rima while both of us blushed.

She was in Amulet Heart. Panting, she managed to say "There's X-Eggs nearby. Tadase-kun is holding them off for a while, but it won't last. Hurry, charanari!" Rima and I nodded.

"My heart: Unlock! Clown Drop!"

"My heart: Unlock! Beat Jumper!"

"Let's go!" Amu led the way and we saw Tadase covering himself with holy crown in all directions. I looked at the X-Egg to see it was somewhat different. There was a faint outline of an 'm' behind the X but I wasn't so sure.

"Rima, Nagihiko! Watch out!" Amu called to us.

I noticed that X-Egg attack was shooting towards us in each direction in four missile-like shapes. That's when I realized there was no missile from above. Before she could protest, I picked Rima up and flew into the sky to avoid the missiles.

But I was too late. One of them hit Rima in the back, making her cry out in pain. Suddenly, she collapsed and Kusukusu separated from her as she fell unconscious on top of Rima's head. Rhythm was yelling out her name desperately and I couldn't find the heart to chuckle mentally and tease him for liking Kusukusu.

I panicked. There was something different about this missile-like attack. Instead of hitting the person, it seemed to go into the person. Rima got hit, so what should I do? What should I do!

"Nagihiko! Get behind Tadase-kun! Quick!" I complied and carried Rima with me. Amu and Tadase looked worriedly at her. Before they could open their mouths to ask questions, I interrupted them with instructions.

"I'll explain later, just purify that X-Egg! I'll use Blaze Shoot to distract it and Amu use Spiral Heart at the same time. Then use Open Heart!" I told them. I laid Rima on the floor. They nodded. Tadase kept up his shield while I used Blaze Shoot. Finally after what seemed like a year, Amu used Open Heart and the egg seemed to evaporate, leaving a piece of paper behind. Why the hell did that egg disappear? What was that piece of paper that flew from it? WHAT DID THAT EGG DO TO RIMA?

"Rima! Nagihiko, what happened? I want answers, NOW!" Amu screamed at me while hugging Rima close to her.

"After you yelled the warning at us, I picked up Rima and flew up into the air. The air was the only option, the missile-attacks came from behind, in front, left, and right of us. But one of them must have hit Rima-chan. The strange thing is the attack went INSIDE of her, not just hitting her like normal attacks do. After that, she and Kusukusu lost consciousness. What kind of X-Egg is that?" I don't know what my voice sounded like. Maybe it sounded like what I was feeling: sadness, bitterness, anger at myself, guilt, sadness again, love…

Yes, I realized when I saw Rima's unconscious state. I loved her.

And do you know what made me feel worse? I realized it when she was in a NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE! That means I'll never get the chance to tell her, unless she wakes up soon.

Amu looked depressed. "I don't know what kind of X-Egg that was. Was it even one?"

"I don't think so, Amu-chan." Tadase stated from where he was observing the piece of paper. "I think that it was artificial but had X-Egg origins…"

"What…?" Amu looked at him as if he was speaking alien. And frankly speaking, I didn't understand a thing he said. My mind was being occupied solely by the short blonde girl who looked dead if it wasn't for her pulse and breathing.

"Please, can we just go someplace where we can look after Rima-chan? She's still unconscious, for heaven's sake!" I snapped at them. Tadase and Amu looked a little offended but they understood what I meant. They were worried also.

"Fujisaki-kun, your house is the closest. We can go there, right?" Tadase asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, we can go there."

I carried Rima while Amu was hovering nearby watching her friend for any sign that she might wake up soon. Tadase walked next to Amu, trying to reassure her that Rima would be fine.

The maids fussed over Rima when we got there, but I ignored them and motioned to Tadase and Amu to follow me and run. So we ran all the way to my room and I locked to door when we were all inside.

That's when I realized Yaya wasn't here with us. "Tadase, where's Yaya-chan?"

Tadase looked at me before realization came upon him. "We left her at the park!"

"Whatever." I put Rima down on my bed with Kusukusu next to her. Rhythm really must love Kusukusu because he didn't leave her side not one bit.

"Do you think she'll wake up any time soon?" Amu anxiously asked.

"Hopefully. We can talk about the weird X-Egg, that might have a clue." Tadase suggested.

"But before that…" Tadase and Amu both looked at me simultaneously. I gulped, knowing what was coming next.

"We need to talk to you about Rima."

* * *

**Muzikchic: another chappie done! And no, Rima DOES. NOT. DIE! SHE'LL BE AWAKE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! I wouldn't put Nagi through torture like that!**

**Nagihiko: you already are. *glares at her with disgust* how could you make Rima-chan like that! You're insensitive, cruel, sadistic-**

**Muzikchic: I know I'm sadistic, but not THAT much. I've got a heart too, you know? I WON'T BE ABLE TO LIVE IF RIMA AND YOU DIED! *cries uncontrollably and wails***

**Nagihiko: . . . . . . . . . . . are you PMSing? First you are sarcastic, evil and then you act like Yaya-chan when she cries. *sweat-drops***

**Muzikchic: No I'm not PMSing you idiot. **

**Nagihiko: whatever.**

**Muzikchic: Anyways, Rima is still alive and will be awake in the next chapter so please review! no flames and R&R! **


	5. its ok to love someone

**Muzikchic: Hiyas! New chapter~**

**Rima: when will I wake up in this chapter? **

**Muzikchic: soon, soon….**

**RIma: Hey, where's Nagihiko?**

**Muzikchic: I thought it was a bad idea to come here and talk with me so often so I sent him away for a day. **

**Rima: WHY? **

**Muzikchic: *whispers to herself* that's a lie, he's outside the door listening on the conversation. Heehee I love teasing Rima-chan….**

**Rima: But, but… I still have to thank him! And that I… I missed him**

**Muzikchic: *yells to the door* NAGI! DID YOU HEAR THAT? RIMA LOVES YOU!**

**Nagihiko: *slams open the door* WHAT? **

**Rima: *blushing* I didn't say anything like that! **

**Muzikchic: While the two are bickering like they are a couple (well, they are!), I'll say the disclaimer!**

**Shugo Chara doesn't belong to me!**

**

* * *

**

**Amu's POV**

"But before that…" Tadase and I stared at Nagihiko. He looked like he got caught by the police. So he DID know!

"We want to talk to you about Rima." I stated. By the way he was acted, he definitely knew what happened to Rima. I want to know WHY she has been acting weirdly, WHY her eyes have been red, and WHY she was leaning against Nagihiko's shoulder about to cry!

"U-um…I don't know anything, Amu-chan. Y-you see, Rima thinks of me like her enemy, so…" Nagihiko started stuttering. Well, it didn't seem as if he was completely lying. Rima did think of Nagihiko as her enemy at one point. But everything else? A BLATANT LIE.

"Liar," Nagihiko flinched. "You know something, don't you? I've seen you give cookies to Rhythm and tell him to give them to Kusukusu for Rima. And that time before I came to tell you guys about the X-Eggs. You were hugging Rima and she wasn't pulling away!" I gave my evidence. The way Nagihiko flinched, I could tell it was true. God, I really felt like an interrogator.

"T-that was, um, you see…"

"Yeah, you are Rima's enemy." I snorted sarcastically. "Rima is really easy to read, you must have noticed that, no? Everytime she hears your name, her eyes soften considerably. Although she shows you an emotionless side, she sighs when you're not around. She doesn't think of you as her enemy anymore. It was all talk." When I finished my speech, Nagihiko was staring at me dumbfounded.

"So please, Nagihiko, can you tell Tadase-kun and me what happened to Rima? All of us are friends, aren't we?" Amu pleaded.

"Amu-chan is right, Fujisaki-kun. Even I noticed everything that Amu has said. It'd be nice if you can tell us, but if it's something you absolutely can't tell…then you don't have to." Tadase began to say. I stared at him shocked.

"Tadase-kun, what are you saying? We should know what's happening to Rima, she's our friend! If there's anything wrong in her life-" I froze then. What was the one problem in Rima's life when I first met her?

Her parents.

"Ne, Nagihiko, Rima doesn't have any problems with her family, right? Right?" I asked. He literally froze on the spot. It took him a while to de-freeze.

"So I was right?" I asked him worriedly. "Tell me, what happened to Rima!"

He shook his head sadly. "It's not my place to say. If Rima-chan never told you, maybe she doesn't want you to know."

"But why? Aren't we best friends?" I asked. It made me really sad that Rima didn't trust me enough.

"Eh… That could be Nadeshiko's fault…" He awkwardly smiled. Nadeshiko's fault? How?

"You're always saying 'Nadeshiko's my best friend' right? Rima gets jealous, you know. You were her first friend other than Kusukusu." I pondered his words. She had her servants, but they weren't her friends. Just servants to manipulate.

I looked guiltily at the ground. "I guess so…"

"So, back to the main question… I can't tell you. I'm sorry." He looked at me apologetically. I sighed tiredly.

"It's okay. I understand." But then I remembered to ask something. A smirk went on my face. "But you love Rima-chan, right?" I smirked wider when his face turned red and tried to deny it.

"W-what? What are you saying, A-Amu-chan?" He asked nervously, sweat-drops all over his face. That was all the information I needed to know.

I squealed. "Kyaa! I knew it! Nagihiko loves Rima!" I fan-girl screamed and Nagihiko stood there blushing like crazy.

"You can't deny it, Nagihiko. Your face says it all." I wanted to laugh at his embarrassment. It was so cute! Those two are perfect for each other.

* * *

**Nagihiko's POV**

I sighed in relief when Amu and Tadase left. I suffered constant teasing from Amu about my feelings, and I swear I could see Tadase laughing his butt off at me. Next time, I should tease him about liking Amu.

Rima hasn't woken up yet. I wondered when she will. Until then, I shouldn't move her.

But was it that I shouldn't or didn't want to?

To tell the truth, he didn't want to. Knowing what happens at her house, I didn't like the idea of Rima living through the torture again. It hurts to be lonely.

At least I could call her mom. It's the least I could do.

I looked around her school bag for her phone. I found her mom's number and I called. Hmm. What should I do to let her mom allow Rima to stay over for tonight at least?

"Rima! Where are you? Get home now!" Her mom's harsh voice yelled through the phone. I took a deep breath. I hope acting pays off.

"Mashiro-san?" I asked in my Nadeshiko voice. "I'm Rima-chan's friend, Nadeshiko."

Her voice instantly softened. "I'm so sorry, Nadeshiko-san." She inserted an extremely fake laugh. "Could you pass the phone to Rima, please?"

I wanted to yell at her 'What kind of mom yells at her daughter and isolates her at home? Does Rima even eat properly?' As much as I wanted to say that, I had to keep my cool. Or this wasn't going to work.

"Rima-chan was sleeping; she must have been very tired. You see, we were going to have a sleepover today with Amu-chan but Amu-chan couldn't make it so it's just us two right now."

"Why didn't she tell me?" Her voice was so fake I wanted to scream!

"She meant to tell you but she fell asleep. I hope you won't get too angry at her." Please say yes, please say yes!

"Okay," she lightly sighed. I bet she thought I didn't hear it but I did. "Since it's a school day on Monday and I'm busy with work, is it okay for her to stay at your house until then?"

I mentally cheered. I kept my happiness restrained as much as possible. "It's fine, Mashiro-san. Thank you for letting her be at the sleepover."

"It's fine. Good-bye now."

"Good-bye." I hung up as quickly as possible. What was with that woman? Her first response is to order her daughter home? No 'Are you okay, where are you?' What kind of parent was she?

I looked over at Rima. She was sleeping peacefully on my bed when all of a sudden she seemed to curl up into a tight ball and cry. Was she having nightmares?

"Rima-chan? What's wrong?" I asked. I sat on the edge of my bed while peering over her to try and see her face. It was contorted into a grimace that told me she was thinking about her parents.

"No… Don't fight! It's my fault, I'll behave better…" She started sobbing while sleep-talking. I tried rubbing her back but it didn't seem to soothe her at all.

"Please, don't you love me? Why are you still fighting? Do you hate me that much?" The sleep-talking got worse as I suspected the nightmare did too.

"Nagihiko..." I froze again. I looked at her hopefully. Was she awake? But her eyes were still tightly closed. "I'm scared… Love goes away too fast… If I love someone he'll end up hating me… Is it okay to love, like it's okay to cry and confide in people?"

I pulled her into a hug. I didn't care if she was asleep and it looked like I was taking advantage of that for an excuse to hug her. I just wanted to embrace her, tell her everything is okay to do. Be selfish for once in your life.

"It's okay, Rima-chan… It's okay to love someone." I whispered into her ear. She finally relaxed ever since that nightmare started. I smiled when she fell into a peaceful sleep, and I felt myself fall asleep, too. I kept telling myself, "Stay awake, stay awake, stay awake." I'm not a pervert, and I don't want to be one.

But my body didn't listen as I fell asleep with Rima in my arms.

* * *

**Rima's POV**

I woke up feeling warm and something bright shining in my face. I slowly linked my eyes to see that I wasn't in my room but in an unfamiliar one. Nonetheless, it gave off a comforting aura.

I looked towards the window to see sunlight shining through. So that's the shining thing that was in my eyes. For some reason, I was still in my school uniform, not my pajamas. What happened after the X-Egg attack in the park? Why was I not in my room in my house?

And what was hugging me? Or more correctly, who?

I slightly turned my head and I saw purple hair that looked like Nagihiko's. But that couldn't be, why would he be sleeping on the same bed as me? I blushed when I saw how close his face was to mine. His sleeping face was surprisingly very cute…

I blinked before I full-out screamed, "NAGIHIKO, YOU PERVERT!"

Funny, wasn't I a pervert too for thinking that his sleeping face was cute? Who was I to talk?

That's when I felt lips on mine.

* * *

**Muzikchic: Naughty, naughty Nagi. Why are you kissing Rima! *chases him around with a stick***

**Nagihiko: I don't know, stop chasing me around! **

**Rima *blushing* that was my first kiss you know... **

**Muzikchic: Yeah! How could you steal that from Rima? **

**Nagihiko: I don't know! I was half-asleep! Don't chase me around with the stick, it HURTS!**

**Muzikchic: Please R&R while I beat up this insensitive idiot. Review!**


	6. you're a pervert

**Muzikchic: Ne, Rima where's Nagi?**

**Rima: Hopefully in hell and not heaven.**

**Muzikchic: WHA~T? You killed Nagi? *sobs* NOOO! **

**Rima: He deserved it. **

**Muzikchic: No, he didn't! What kind of person are you? I don't want Shugo Chara anymore, if my fav character turned into a murderer! NOOOOOO! (hehe that's the DISCLAIMER, people!) **

**Nagihiko: Rima-chan, I came back from buying the candy you wanted-**

**Muzikchic: NAGI! You're alive! *glomps him***

**Rima: *glares* **

**

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

I widened my eyes as Nagihiko kissed me. What was going on? Seriously, what happened while I was asleep?

First, I don't remember what happened to the X-Egg. Second, I had the most horrible nightmare. Third, I woke up in an unfamiliar room that made me think I was kidnapped again. Fourth, I saw Nagihiko hugging me and we were sleeping on the same bed. Fifth, why the hell was he kissing me?

But… it felt nice. When I began to kiss back, his arms tightened around me, pulling me closer and deepening the kiss.

Still, did this mean he loved me? If he asked me if I loved him, what would I answer? Was I ready to love someone? I'm still traumatized by my parents' relationship.

I pulled away from him panting from lack of air. I swear my face was red when his arms were still around my waist, and he hugged me tighter burying his face in my shoulder. Seriously, he was acting as if I was dead and came back from life! Did he miss me that much?

It felt nice to be worried over, though. I tentatively hugged him back, as if to say that I really was there. He better explain everything when he wakes up. Yes, despite everything, I believed that he was doing everything in his sleep; it wasn't really him acting now. The Nagihiko I knew wouldn't do something like that. Sure, he would hug me, comfort me, and hang out with me, but he would never kiss me.

"Hey… wake up, Nagihiko." I told him. He didn't respond. "Nagi-"

"I know my name, Rima-chan. And I was awake the whole time." He chuckled as I blushed.

"T-that kiss… did you mean it? Or was it just…" I trailed off, looking away blushing.

"I meant everything. I love you, Rima-chan." I blushed even redder if that was possible.

My heart beat fast and a warm feeling washed over me. I wonder if this was why I told him everything about my family, confided in him, even let him kiss me. Why did I start to fall in love with him, when I specifically knew that it was bad to fall in love and it will all end in heartbreak?

"Rima-chan? Are you okay now?"

Okay as in 'you're okay with my stealing your first kiss' or 'you're okay overall'? "What do you mean, Nagihiko?"

He took a deep breath. "You got hit by the X-Egg attack yesterday. But it kind of went inside of you instead of normally hitting you. After that, you and Kusukusu lost consciousness and stayed like that until this morning. And you had a nightmare, too." My eyes widened at that. How did he know? He continued, "Oh, you slept-talked during your nightmare. Not to mention, your whole face was scrunched up. And you pretty much said aloud your responses to whatever's happening in your nightmare. It had to do with your parents, right?" I nodded. He pulled away from our hug and looked into my eyes as if he was trying to find a diagnosis for my nightmare and condition yesterday.

I could lose myself forever in those eyes of his. Those alluring brown eyes that were a darker shade of my amber ones had everything I wanted people to feel for me: kindness, generosity, respect, friendship, comfort, and love.

"Rima-chan, do you love me?" He asked me seriously. I stared back at him hopelessly, not sure how to answer that question.

"In my nightmare, you appeared toward the end. I asked you if it was okay to love someone, and you said yes. On that matter, I'm going to trust you." I turned away feeling guilty for what I'm going to say next.

"But to tell the truth, I don't fully understand what I feel for you. During the kiss, my whole body was screaming 'LOVE!' so I think I love you. But even though I know it's okay to love someone now, every part of me isn't accustomed to thinking that way so in one way or another, I'm still pretty convinced that I can't fall in love yet. I guess my parents traumatized me really badly, huh?" I attempted to smile, but it didn't seem to work.

"Although, I say I'm not sure that I love you, I've never felt this…different about anyone before. Is that what's called 'love'? I don't know. Maybe that's why I'm not sure if I love you or not- I don't know what love is in the first place." I laughed ruefully before I continued. "However, I have this hunch… that if I stay with you, I'll find my answer, but not by myself. With you." I smiled up at him. He sadly smiled back.

"So, "I'm not sure if I love you"… huh? I guess that's understandable, considering your reasons. But you did say that you feel for me differently than other people. Is that in the good way or the bad way?"

"The good way." I said immediately. He smiled more happily this time.

"Then, at least I'm a special person to you." After thinking, he smirked half-heartedly. "You DID say that when I kissed you, your body was screaming "love" right?" He leaned closer to me. I had a bad idea where this was leading to.

"U-um, if I said yes-?"

He kissed me again without any hesitation and I was so surprised I didn't respond at all. When I felt his arms snake around my waist and his hand started playing with my hair, I finally began to kiss him back and it was indescribable bliss.

He pulled away breathing hard as I did the same. "Eh, I was thinking that if I kissed you enough times then you would realize that you love me… Do you think it'll work?" I blushed.

"It won't because all of a sudden you turned into a pervert without even chara-changing with Rhythm!" I objected stubbornly. "And what kind of logic was THAT?"

"I guess it won't work then, I'll remain heartbroken for the rest of my life…" He sighed over-dramatically. I snorted.

"Stop acting, Nagihiko. It looks stupid."

"Damn, you found out."

"Of course I did! And anyways, I said I wasn't sure if I LOVED you. But I definitely LIKE you. See the difference?" I pointed it out. He looked at me surprised before chuckling.

"Yeah, I guess. So hurry up and turn that 'like' into 'love', please."

I blushed. "Now that you asked, I won't!" I turned away from him. It was now that I noticed that we were still lying on his bed. I blushed when I remembered we were sleeping on the same bed all night.

"N-Nagihiko…" I asked shakily. He looked at me worriedly and alarmed at my shaking voice. I really didn't want to ask the next question since it was so embarrassing, but I just HAD to. "W-we didn't d-do anything… l-last night…right?" I blushed even redder than I ever blushed before. I looked up at him and his face was also red. That was the first time I have seen him blush. Eh, it looked cute.

"I-I swear, I didn't do anything last night." He managed to stutter out. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"And I know you're not lying because…?"

"Because I wouldn't take advantage of you while you were unconscious and you could have been in a near-death situation for all I knew." He stuttered out again. I sighed.

"I guess I'm forced to believe you then…" He opened his mouth to say that I wasn't forced but I cut him off. "Does my mom know that I'm here?"

He smirked at me. "My acting skills paid off. I used my Nadeshiko voice and I persuaded her to let you stay until school on Monday." I gaped at him.

"WHAT? I have to stay at your freaking MANSION until school starts? I'm going to get molested by you!" I mock-groaned. He sweat-dropped.

"Now now, Rima-chan, why would I molest you? I'm not a pervert!" He complained while I rolled my eyes at him.

"In Rima's world, 'perverted' includes kissing and hugging without a person's consent. Oh, and hugging as in the hugging that clearly doesn't portray friendship." I stated. He smirked. I glared at him. "What?"

"Then that means I'm not a pervert. Since you clearly didn't push me away and kissed me back." He smirk became wider as I blushed.

"S-shut up!"

"Anyways, what are we going to do? Since the X-Egg attack literally went inside of you, it could affect you like an actual disease. What should we do about that?"

I was wondering that too. What kind of trouble could that cause? "I don't know. Should we call for a guardians' meeting concerning the new X-Egg? If it even is one." I suggested. He nodded.

"Then, let's call everyone right now and meet up at the parfait place you like. Yaya-chan would want to go there too." He got up from the bed and walked to the door. "I'll be back. Call Amu-chan, okay? She was really worried." He left.

I smiled. After hearing about what happened, I could tell it really worried Amu. I felt glad at that.

Nagihiko was worried about me too. Everyone did.

Having friends who loved you and cared for you really felt nice.

* * *

**Muzikchic: oh, I want to clear some stuff up because I was looking over this chappie and I noticed something. During this whole chapter, Rima and Nagi are still wearing their SCHOOL UNIFORMS.  
**

**Please review! I'll try to keep the story more fast-paced, since I'm beginning to feel it's going a bit slow. So I'll work hard! R&R! **


	7. Suspicion comes true

**Muzikchic: I don't own Shugo Chara at all! *sighs* disclaimers take up too much space in my life…**

**Rima: Do you even have a life? **

**Nagihiko: That's really mean, Rima-chan. Apologize.**

**Rima: Nope!**

**

* * *

**

**Rima POV**

I put my phone away and sighed tiredly, plopping back down on Nagihiko's bed. I stared up at the ceiling with a blush on my face. Amu just teased me over the phone. Why she made a big deal about it over the phone, I'll never know. She made it sound as if it would get much worse but I couldn't understand how.

"Rima-chan?" Nagihiko called as he looked into his room. "Amu-chan brought over some clothes that you could borrow last night. Hurry up and change; we have to go to the parfait place for the guardians' meeting." He smirked. "You don't want me in here to do it for you, Rima-chan."

He laughed as I grabbed the bag he handed me and pushed him out as roughly as possible. To think I was staying here until Monday... I really won't be able to survive with this pervert.

_-At the parfait place-_

"So, regarding the new X-Egg…" Tadase began. I could feel a huge lecture coming up and I didn't feel like listening. I concentrated on the vanilla and strawberry parfait I eating.

"Yes, like I said yesterday, the attacks seemed to go inside the person instead of hitting them. Rima was the victim, Yaya-chan." Nagihiko looked at Yaya as she gave him a look of gratitude. She had no idea of what was going on so far.

"Also, we saw the paper that floated down after the egg seemingly evaporated, right?" He once again looked at Tadase and Amu, who both nodded. Tadase took the paper out from the bag he brought.

"The paper seems normal almost, except you could feel X-Egg energy coming from it. I'm beginning to think that the X-Egg we encountered yesterday wasn't a real one at all."

I looked up from my parfait. "Could you please speak in English? I won't be able to understand."

He paled under my cold tone before he continued. "What I meant was I think the 'X-Egg' is manufactured with the paper as its source. What I can't understand is the faint 'm' on the paper. It's obvious that the 'm' is glowing with the X-Egg energy but why an 'm'?"

"We'll figure that out. Burt what will happen to Rima? If the X-Egg energy is inside her from that attack then, won't that be bad for Rima and Kusukusu?" Amu asked worriedly. I looked at Kusukusu and she clung to my hair with sadness. I smiled at her in reassurance and she began to smile back.

"I think we'll just have to see. Mashiro-san, do you feel any different?" Gosh, was Tadase sounding like a doctor? Eww.

"Not anything that isn't normal." I sharply said. Nagihiko gave me an accusing look at that.

"Okay then, that's all about the X-Egg. I wanted to ask- what, Yuiki-san?" Tadase looked at Yaya who was pouting angrily at him. He sighed.

"We're sorry for abandoning you in the park. As you probably caught on, there was an X-Egg attack and Mashiro-san got injured. She passed out so we took her to Fujisaki-kun's house and she stayed there overnight."

Yaya's eyes brightened at this and out of the corner of my eye I saw Amu smirk. So THIS is what she was hinting at. Shit.

"Rima-chi… At Nagi's house?" She had that investigator look on her face. I sweat-dropped. "So, anything happen, RIma-chi?" She gave me that knowing look that made me want to puke. She probably was trying to set us up every since Nagihiko transferred here.

"No, nothing happened that is of worth mentioning. I wake up at his house, get a heart attack, get told to get ready for coming here for the guardians' meeting, and kick Nagihiko out of his room." I gave him a death glare when he opened his mouth to speak. He shivered and slightly sank down into his chair.

Amu looked positively radiant at this. She pulled me into the bathroom of the store and locked the door. Thankfully, it was a one-person bathroom so Yaya couldn't come into here. Unthankfully, she was outside the door eavesdropping. I waited for the interrogation.

"Rima! You and Nagihiko kissed? Are you guys going out?" I winced at the whispered squeal. She had SOME common sense after all. She knows Yaya would be listening.

"Keep it down, Amu. Yes, we kissed and no, we aren't going out," I thought for a moment. "Yet."

Amu squealed again. "How? I want to know!"

"I wake up and see him on the floor. When I try to wake him up, he kisses me instead. There, happy?" I told Amu part of it. Of course I wasn't going to tell her how it really happened.

She squealed yet again. What was with her and screaming? "Is he a good kisser?"

Even though I wasn't drinking or eating anything, I almost choked. "What?"

"Don't make me repeat myself, Rima."

I blushed a bright red. "I…guess?"

She smiled, satisfied. "I'm rooting for you, okay? Do you love him?"

I turned away, blushing harder. "I don't know. Maybe or maybe not. That's why we're not going out yet; I'm not completely sure of my feelings."

"That's okay, you'll figure it out."

I faced her again, with an evil glint in my eye. "So how's it going with that kitty cat of yours? Are you keeping him hanging too or are you officially going out with Tada-gay." I covered my mouth. "Did I really say 'Tada-gay'? Oops, my bad."

"Don't call Tadase-kun that! And I'm not sure yet about Ikuto, since he's still travelling around the world with the orchestra he's in. I'm just happy he's following his dreams." She had a far-away look in her eye, and I smirked.

"You better get your speech ready."

"What speech?"

I grinned at her widely. "The speech where you dump Tada-gay."

"Shut up!"

"Mou, Rima-chi, Amu-chi, can you get back outside? Yaya is bored." Yaya started whining. I quickly opened the door and sat down at my seat. Nagihiko looked at me smirking.

"So what were you talking about, Rima-chan? Amu-chan and Tadase already know about it, they guessed yesterday."

"S-shut up!"I shrieked at him, and I stuffed a spoonful of my parfait into his mouth when he was about to make a comeback. He stared at me wide-eyed and I blushed when we realized what happened. Amu was looking at us amusedly. So was Tada-gay.

I pulled away from him, leaving the spoon in his mouth. He took it out of his mouth and finished eating the spoonful I had given him.

"You know, if you wanted to tell me how good the parfait was, you could've SAID it, not force it down my throat." He looked at me with his eyebrow raised. The bloody idiot was fighting back a smirk.

"Oh? I didn't know you liked it, I thought you hated parfaits. That's why I stuffed it down your throat." I retorted back.

"On the contrary, I like parfaits. I just didn't know you'd be so enthusiastic to hand-feed me."

At this point, Amu and Yaya was rolling on the floor laughing their heads off. I was SO going to jail for the murders of Yuiki Yaya, Hinamori Amu, and Fujisaki Nagihiko.

Tadase began chuckling also. Actually, make it four murders, the addition being Hotori Tadase.

"I wasn't. To think that I was hand-feeding you, you must have feelings for me in one way or another. I'm so sorry, but I'll have to turn you down. In simpler terms, REJECT you. So, no, I do not like you."

Nagihiko looked taken back at that. He couldn't find a comeback. I smirked at him before getting up to ask for another spoon.

Although that was the most efficient comeback I could make and was very proud of it, why did my heart feel heavier at those words?

The headache and nightmare began to consume me once again, as I hit the cold floor.

* * *

**PLEASE REVIEW! R&R! PLZ!**

**I practically live for the reviews. Thanks to all the people who have reviewed so far!**


	8. an overprotective mom

**Muzikchic: I don't own Shugo Chara- dechu! Haha, I always wanted to talk like Pepe-chan. Hehe**

**

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

I fell onto the cold floor and I winced at the impact. The nightmare and the headache started coming again, but I managed to get them out of my head. It'll buy me some time so I could go somewhere later without them knowing.

I stood up and got the spoon before returning to the table. I told them I tripped and I was completely fine. Of course, Nagihiko didn't believe me.

"Rima-chan, are you sure you're all right?"

"I'm fine, Nagihiko! Geez, worry much?" I complained as I crossed my arms. But I wasn't fine, my head was starting to hurt already. I couldn't hold the nightmare back for much longer.

"Everyone, is it okay if we go to the Royal Garden? I have something to say." I heard Nagihiko say seriously to everyone. I attempted to glare at him for trying to spill my secrets but it didn't work.

* * *

**Nagihiko's POV**

As we were walking, everyone was chatting and Yaya was begging for candy. I looked down at Rima, who was breathing heavily. I couldn't tell if it was from walking so much or if it was from the nightmare I could tell was coming into her head.

She finally collapsed onto the floor and she was sobbing again. Everyone turned around at her and came running worriedly.

"Rima-chan! It's okay, it's only a nightmare, it's not real!" I shook her shoulders while I tried to talk some sense into her. She once again started to sleep-talk, this time saying stuff about liars and hate.

I hugged her again, and she finally calmed down and started to sleep peacefully. Everyone stared at me in shock as they tried to comprehend what just happened.

"Nagi, why are you hugging Rima-chi! So you DO like her!" Yaya started squealing. I wanted to yell at her. She didn't see Rima have the nightmare first?

"Let me guess, this happened yesterday after we left, Fujisaki-kun." Tadase whispered to me. I nodded.

"Explain at the Royal Garden." Amu ordered. Everyone started walking again and I carried Rima piggy-back style again.

Was it just me, or did Amu remind me of an overprotective mom wherever Rima's concerned? And since Ikuto's not around (Amu definitely likes Ikuto but won't admit it yet), Tadase takes the role of the overprotective dad. I shivered at the thought. That's way too scary for my liking.

_-At the Royal Garden-_

Now this was really awkward. Rima wouldn't let go of me (or more accurately, my shirt) when I tried putting her down so everyone opted for me to keep on holding her. Yaya started taking pictures before becoming serious like the others.

I was sitting on a chair with Rima cling to my back. There was a chair directly behind me so Rima coud sit there. She was leaning against my back while clutching the back of my shirt. Do you know how awkward it is to sit with someone sleeping against your back like a little kid and clutching your shirt? Especially if you liked that person? I was slightly blushing the whole time. No one noticed, phew.

"Explanation, Nagihiko, now." Amu said in her interrogator voice again. She must have so much fun acting like the interrogator. Sadly, I'm the victim to this verbal torture.

"You see, Rima-chan was lying. She's been having nightmares ever since she got hit. I managed to comfort her yesterday also like I did today. Yes, she sleep-talks. She seems to say responses to whatever happens in her nightmares. I don't know if that's due to the X-Egg attack or it's really just normal nightmares." I summarized everything for them.

"So that's what happened…" Amu trailed off sadly. She must feel so sad that she couldn't do anything for Rima. I could totally relate to that, hands down.

"Ungh… NO! Don't go! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-" Rima started talking into her sleep again before she went into uncontrollable sobs. She was still sleeping against my back so let's say she got my shirt wet too. I didn't mind though. I brought a sweater.

She clutched my shirt even tighter, preventing me from turning around and hug her like I usually would. I looked at Amu, my expression literally begging her to come over and help me with the Rima problem. She quickly came over and rubbed Rima's back. Rima's hold on my shirt loosened considerably and I sighed in relief.

"Haha, Nagi looks like Rima-chi's dad! And Amu-chi, her mom!" Yaya started to laugh slightly. Amu blushed lightly at the unintended implication but soon gave Yaya a stern glare.

What I was doing? I was seething at the thought that I was being likened to Rima's dad. Rima's actual dad wouldn't give a damn about Rima right now. And anyways, I didn't have paternal feelings toward her. I love Rima, as in the lovers. Okay, that sounded really weird.

Internally glaring at Yaya about how she can say that considering the situation, I decided that candy was at fault.

"You know, Yaya-chan… I think we shouldn't give you candy for a week."

"No, anything but the candy! Yaya can't survive without the candy!" Yaya started to complain.

I sighed. "Anyways, about me looking like Rima's dad, I thought that Tadase more fit the role. While I was walking here, I couldn't help but think, 'Hey, Amu and Tadase fit the overprotective parental role towards Rima'. Except her real parents are the complete opposite." Everyone could tell the angry look on my face. Amu finished blushing about my comment before looking at me with the interrogator look again.

"Nagihiko, I'm going to ask again. What exactly happened to her parents?"

"About that, her parents-"

"What about my parents, Nagihiko?" Rima sleepily asked. I turned my face around to see her face right in front of mine and we both blushed before pulling away from each other.

Realization dawned upon her and she screamed, "You promised! You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about my parents' divorce!"

Amu gasped. "Your parents DIVORCED?"

Rima winced. She had ended up saying the dreaded word to everyone. She looked down at the floor, her bangs covering her eyes. That telltale sign… I didn't like it.

* * *

**Rima's POV**

The weird nightmare came up in my dreams again. It was similar to the one that I had the day before Nagihiko's and my date at the amusement park. But there definitely was some major differences.

In it, I was surrounded by smoke and shadows. Before long, the smoke had begun to choke me and I started to sink into the quicksand that had magically appeared there. Then, the hand started to pull me up and I was free. But before I could see who the person was, he (or was he a she?) hugged me, and mumble some incoherent words before walking away, leaving me alone in darkness. I cried, begging whoever it was not to leave me. Then I found myself between two doors. I couldn't choose which one to go through. I stood there, hesitating between the two when my chest starting hurting and I collapsed on the floor…

That was when I woke up and heard my parents being mentioned by Nagihiko. I jumped to conclusions and yelled at him for telling my secret, when he didn't even say it yet.

And I blurted out the forbidden word. Divorce.

My life was ruined now. All I would receive was pity. I didn't want that at all.

Tears started to well up in my eyes and I hung my head, letting my bangs cover my face. Eventually, I felt someone hug me. It wasn't Nagihiko, but the person gave me the same feeling. The feeling of comfort and caring were in the hugs.

Oh, Nagihiko's also has love. I forgot to mention that. Oops, if I hadn't then that means that means Nagihiko's hugs aren't special. And they are. To me.

"I'm sorry, Rima, for not being there for you. I'm so sorry."

I looked up surprised. "A..mu?"

Then I heard Nagihiko snicker. "See? I told you, Amu-chan can be the overprotective mother. Now where's Tadase?" Amu blushed.

"Shut up about the mom thing, okay? I'm just worried about my best friend, after all!" Amu snorted.

"Are you sure? Rima-chan can have two mothers." Nagihiko smirked again.

I looked at the two, my gaze alternating between Nagihiko and Amu. "What kind of conversations WERE you two having while I was sleeping?"

Amu looked down at me sheepishly. "Nagihiko mentioned getting the impression of an overprotective mom from me whenever you were in trouble or hurt. So…yeah, that's what happened." Amu finished awkwardly.

"So then… who's the 'dad'? Don't say Ikuto because I'll puke." I asked Amu curiously.

"W-well, he was…"

"He was Tadase." Nagihiko finished. I looked over to Tadase to see him standing there sheepishly. I narrowed my eyes.

"Tadase? First, he acted like a doctor or a psychiatrist- I can't remember which- and now he's an overprotective dad? Sorry, but eww." I said. Amu, Nagihiko, and Yaya were laughing and I started to smile.

"Okay, but where's Kusukusu?" I asked. Panic started to fill me when I couldn't find her anywhere.

Then the charas started rushing into the Royal Garden. Rhythm was carrying Kusukusu and I almost choked. Rhythm didn't have any feelings for Kusukusu, did he?

"Tadase! This unworthy commoner fainted while doing my noble work of fulfilling world domination! I want something done about this, THIS INSTANT!" Kiseki yelled haughtily as he started laughing maniacally.

I picked up Kusukusu from Rhythm and cradled her in my hands. What if the X-Egg attack caused this and my nightmares? I can't get through the day without Kusukusu and her silly faces. They always made me smile!

She seemed to wake up after what seemed like an hour and she stared at me groggily.

"Rima, why do you have clown make-up all over your face, you look funny!" Kusukusu started to laugh uncontrollably while I stared at her in shock.

". . ."

Way to ruin the moment, Kusukusu.

* * *

**Please review! **

**I also want feedback if you think the story is at a good pace and if you think there are any plot holes so far (if there is enough of the plot written down. -_-;;) So please review! **


	9. a wish on a star

**Muzikchic: Yay, I have an announcement!**

**Nagihiko: what is it?**

**Muzikchic: from now on, I'm calling myself 'Lynn'!**

**Rima: why 'lynn'? that sounds so stupid.**

**Lynn: No it doesn't! Oh, I got it from 'Jocelyn' which apparently my real name is a derivative of that name so….**

**Rima: A derivative? **

**Nagihiko: A word that has its roots from another wor-**

**Lynn: We don't need a definition. What I do need is a disclaimer.**

**I DON'T OWN SHUGO CHARA!**

**

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

I walked alongside Nagihiko as we walked back home. Kusukusu was floating beside me, and I was thankful for her presence. It worried me as hell when she was suddenly gone.

But then she had to be all hallucinated on me and laugh at my supposed clown-makeup. That sure made everyone laugh while I was fuming at how much she made me worry. Not to mention, she has a highly likely fan-chara named Rhythm.

Great. Now our charas are in love too. Not that I love Nagihiko, it's just that I'm not sure of my feelings.

I was so into my thoughts that I didn't feel him move closer to me and press his lips to mine. I immediately started kissing him back, my arms around his neck. Our charas was looking at us, slightly shocked but happy.

I loved being with him, his hugs, and his comforting words. But I didn't want to feel like a slut, who kissed a guy for only liking it and not having feelings for him. Like I told him, I wasn't sure if I loved him and if I ended up not liking him, I would hate leading him on only to let him have a heartbreak. I couldn't do that to Nagihiko.

Do you want to know why? Because although I considered him my worst enemy, he stayed by my side when I needed it the most. I was having the hardest time accepting my parents' divorce, and even now I can't get over it! And that pain hurt like hell. I couldn't put Nagi through that pain, I really couldn't.

He pulled away from our kiss and pressed his forehead to mine, our noses touching. "What's wrong, Rima-chan? You seem troubled by something."

He was perfect; he was a gentlemen, smart, talented, and everything I wasn't. Why did he choose to fall in love with me, the person who's his complete opposite?

"Why me, Nagihiko? Of all people, why me?" I whispered questioningly. I was scared of his answer, because it was always so considerate of my feeling. It made me uneasy.

He sighed. "This question again?"

"I never asked you that question."

"Well, it's because I love you Rima-chan."

"I was asking why you love me."

"It's because you're a strong person. Although you put up a stubborn front, in actuality you're a fragile person who's just waiting for someone to notice her. Not to mention your attempt to insult me are very cute. Annoying, but cute." He chuckled as I frowned half-heartedly at him.

"But that's not what's bothering you, is it? Tell me, Rima-chan. Or do I have to punish you?" Nagihiko started smirking again. I opened my mouth to make a retort when he kissed me lightly. It was like a peck almost. I looked at him upset. He chuckled.

"Now will you tell me?" He teased, "Or do I have to kiss you again."

I blushed. "At the rate this is going, you won't hear anything about my problems and we'll be busy making out. I don't like that idea."

"So just hurry up and tell me." Nagihiko insisted.

"What will you do if I never end up falling in love with you? What will you do, Nagihiko?"

He thought for a moment before replying, "That won't happen because I'll make sure you fall in love with me. You don't have any say in this, Rima-chan."

Chuckling at my reaction, he said, "You don't have to pout or look like you'll never see your favorite gag. I'm not that bad, or you would have never let me kiss you or sleep in the same bed as you."

I blushed as red as possible at his words. "Maybe… I guess I love you- but just a little! I'm not like one of your obsessive fan-girls!" I panicked while he just kept on laughing at me.

"Okay, okay, I know you're not like my fan-girls. And aww, I love you too Rima-koi."

"Don't use koi with my name; it sounds too Ikuto-ish. And perverted Ikuto is disgusting." I scrunched up my face in disgust.

This time, he laughed uncontrollably. "Ikuto-ish? What kind of word is THAT?" he managed say in between laughter.

I frowned. I could make up all the words I wanted. He shouldn't laugh at them.

"Sorry, Rima-chan. I won't add koi at the end until you tell me too."

I smiled at him in gratitude. I was too lazy to talk, I didn't feel like doing anything at all.

We finally managed to make it back to Nagihiko's room after running through the hallways avoiding the servants. I sighed and immediately laid down on his bed to sleep.

"You're sleeping NOW?" Nagihiko stared at ne in astonishment as I glared at him.

He looked disappointed. "I thought we could do something together, since it's your last night here with me."

I twitched. "Where is it?" I was curious to what Nagihiko planned.

He smiled at me before he picked me up bridal style and carried me to his window. I shrieked.

"Are you trying to kill me? Nagihiko if I fall you'll pay!" I screamed.

"Don't worry, I won't drop you."

He went onto the roof and sat me down next to him. He pointed to the sky and I saw a roadway of stars and the constellations they make up. I smiled in excitement.

"It's pretty, Nagihiko. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

He hugged me in a one-armed embrace, my head once again leaning on his shoulder.

"If only time would stop at this moment" I whispered when a shooting star flashed across the sky.

He smiled at me. "I know. So did you make a wish?"

I shook my head. Although the shooting star was long gone, I still made my wish and I was happy for the first time in a long while.

My wish? It's a s.e.c.r.e.t. If I told Nagihiko my wish , I might as well make a banner with my wish on it and run around in a ridiculous genie outfit.

When I thought of this, I laughed softly, causing Nagihiko to look at me curiously. "What's so funny, Rima-chan?"

I laughed harder. "It's nothing. Just nothing."

* * *

**Please R&R! **


	10. the evil starts

**Lynn: I don't own Shugo Chara! **

**Rima: Yep, she doesn't. I don't want to be owned by her. **

**Rima's POV**

I couldn't concentrate in class and it was all because of the stupid purple-headed freak.

After our star-gazing last night, he made me sleep on the bed with him AGAIN. And the results? Not pretty.

_-Flashback-_

_Nagihiko jumped lightly down from the window with me still hanging onto him as he carried me bridal-style again. I sighed in relief when we were safely back in his room and I attempted to put my feet back on the floor. Key word being attempted._

_You see, he wasn't letting me down. Instead, he kept on holding me like the pervert he was and grinned._

"_Sorry, Rima-chan, but you're not getting away from me just yet."_

_Chills ran down my spine as he said his words. "W-what? You're not going to do anything perverted are you?"_

_He chuckled. I swear he chuckles WAY too much. It's weird! _

"_Nope. Instead…" He grinned evilly as he let go of my legs so they touched the ground. Then he picked me up around my waist, and started to spin me around in circles._

"_KYAA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" I screamed as he continued to spin me around. I was really getting dizzy and Nagihiko being the cause of it wasn't helping me either. _

_He grinned evilly once again. "What do you think? I'm spinning you around. Don't you think it's fun?"_

"_NO! Especially since I- KYAAA!" I screamed again when he stopped spinning and tossed me into the air as if I was some professional dancer. He caught me and started spinning me again. _

"_Why did you toss me in the air? What if you didn't catch me?" I screamed at him again. _

"_Why would I let you fall? I'm a dancer who tries to make little mistakes. Tossing a person in the air is easy for me." _

"_Then, why aren't you getting dizzy at all? You've been spinning me around for I-don't-know-how-many minutes and I'm dizzy already!" My voice was starting to get hoarse from yelling too much. _

"_Is little Rima-koi dizzy already? All right I'll stop." He stopped spinning and let me go completely. I stumbled and almost fell down. Nagihiko stuck one arm out to catch me and is stood there leaning over his arm. I glared at him. Curse him for making me that dizzy! _

"_What's your problem today, purple-head? Are you a sadistic freak too?" _

"_Nope. I just thought it'd be fun." He shrugged as he looked at me. _

"_Anyways, can you tell me what was REALLY bothering you earlier today?"_

_I stared at him shocked. "I already told you everything that was bothering me. What else could I have not told you?"_

"_I don't know. But it was important." _

"_How is it that you can read me like a book?"_

"_Because I love you."_

"_You're hopeless." I sat on his bed with my arms crossed. I yawned. "I'm tired."_

"_You can sleep on the bed next to me. There's enough space." _

"_I'll sleep there only if there's something separating the two of us. Take it or leave it." I glared at him before he sighed and mumbled something about 'whatever the queen says…'. _

_I moved to the other end of the bed as he started to stack pillows next to me. When he was satisfied he laid down on the other side of the pillow wall. Before long both of us was sleeping._

_-Next Morning-_

_When I woke up, I felt warm and content. Something was keeping me warm and I liked it. I rubbed my eyes as I looked up to see silky purple hair. _

_WAIT, PURPLE HAIR? _

"_Get off me, you sick pervert!"_

_-End Flashback-_

I stomped out of my classroom as soon as it was over. Thank God it was the last class of the day! There was no Guardians' meeting today so I was free to do whatever I wanted.

I walked home by myself. Nagihiko said he had dance practice so he was probably enduring that right now. I slightly smiled at our 'dance' the other night.

"Mama? I'm home." I called out as I opened the door. Everything was silent so I assumed that she was in her room crying or doing work. But it was way too quiet. Maybe she was at work and didn't come home yet?

Kusukusu hovered next to me and she felt something bad happening, I could tell. She was shivering and hiding in my hair. I smiled at her in reassurance as a opened my bedroom door.

SLAP!

I held my cheek shocked as I stared in astonishment at my now deranged mother who was standing in the doorway with her eyes blazing in disgust and anger. Her hair was messed up and some strands were in her mouth. Her clothes had wrinkles in them and all in all, she looked like a devil. My face paled and lost every ounce of color it had.

"You! It's all your fault! If you weren't too cute, you would never have been kidnapped! Then your father wouldn't have divorced me and we'd still be happy!" Each word she said was accentuated with a slap, punch, or kick to my small figure. I already had huge blue and black bruises and I winced and cried out in pain every time she hit me.

"M-mama! S-stop! Please say you didn't mean that, you love me, that's why-"

"NO!" She screamed, spitting hair out of her mouth. "It's all your fault! Because of you, he doesn't love me anymore and he's gone off with some prostitute! It's all your fault!" She screamed angrily at me.

"SHUT UP!" I shrieked. I couldn't stand it, my mama's abusive words. Somehow, I managed to go into my room and shove her out. I locked the door and leaned heavily against it; mom was pounding on the door. I considered it safe enough to stay away from the door now that it was locked.

I limped towards my bed, and collapsed on top of it while tears flowed uncontrollably from my eyes. Mama just confirmed my deepest fears- that my parents didn't love me. Now I knew for sure that my parents were liars. How could I forget the day Papa left? They so blatantly lied saying it was for my sake- they didn't want me to suffer from their fights. Now that they have divorced, they only made it worse.

The nightmares started to come again, but these were also tweaked from the previous one. It started off with Mama beating me up in the door way of my room, as I cried and screamed for her to stop. I was all bloody, bruised, and limp by the time she finished. The smoke surrounding me turned more opaque and it choked me as I fell into the quicksand. The figure I always saw that helped me was just in the distance and I choked out screams for help to it. And then, the telltale sinking completely under the sand…

And it ended as memories of my parents' fighting started to play like a slideshow I my mind and I sobbed harder, clutching my head. Kusukusu was in pain also, she was hunched all over in pain.

"R-Rima…" she coughed out as she collapsed. I cradled her in my hands in shock. This was the same as yesterday when she collapsed.

"No, Kusukusu, No! Not you too, please…" I begged.

I tried to calm myself down. I forced myself to do bala-balance without Kusukusu' help. I did the gag that she always did for me when I was down. I read all my gag-mangas over again. But she wouldn't wake up.

When I walked to school the next morning, I was in slightly in a better mood because when I woke up, Kusukusu was awake and back to normal. I had to use huge amounts of concealer to hide the bruises on my legs and face. I wore long-sleeves so no one will notice the ones on my arms. I really hope no one will figure out.

I knew I was wrong, because the moment I stepped into view of Fujisaki Nagihiko, he looked me over once and frowned. I squirmed under his gaze until he smiled sadly at me.

"Let's go to school together, ne Rima-chan? Then you can tell me why you look so pale this morning."

"Oh, it's just from lack of sleep, don't worry Nagihiko." I whispered and yawned to prove my point. He didn't look convinced. "No really, I'm fine. Thanks for worrying though." I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.

He blushed lightly but kept that sad smile on his face. He absentmindedly played with a lock of my long blonde hair as I managed to somehow hide my slight limp.

Nagihiko always read me like a book and could easily tell when I was lying and acting. I just hoped he wouldn't ask me any time soon.

**Nagihiko's POV**

As soon as I saw Rima I knew something was wrong at her house.

First, she was walking with a limp. Second, she was wearing abnormally large amounts of concealer on her face and legs. How I knew this? I'm a dancer, for god's sake! I've worn makeup!

Third, she was trying way too hard at acting as if everything was fine. I couldn't tell exactly what happened at her house so I wished Rima had been clumsy and fell down somewhere.

But I knew I was wrong when she had leaned up to kiss my cheek. I saw a bruise just along her jawline that was just only covered with concealer. I started to play with her hair so I could see the bruise a bit better. She didn't do a good job of covering this particular bruise, and I could see how bad it looked. I wish she could tell me what happened to her. I felt so sad that she had to do everything on her own. Why didn't she ever listen to what I say? It made me really upset that I couldn't do anything for her except for one thing.

I could only stay by her side and wait for when she calls on me for help.

**Mystery POV**

"Sir, the plan is going perfectly! This new project will definitely bring down those pesky guardians!"

"Good work. You made a good choice of who to start the project on in the guardians. You chose that Mashiro girl, she has the biggest and most vulnerable weakness to take advantage of."

"She sure does. This project only works on the fears that have traumatized or seriously affected the person."

"Yes, yes. Even the girl's father was easy to manipulate. He tore his whole family apart, making our plan easier!" the man cackled like an evil witch.

"Your whole life and dreams are in our hands, Mashiro Rima."

**Pleas R&R while I start crying for Rima-chan, since she won't cry enough. **

**Review!**


	11. Riki's debut!

**Lynn: New chappie!**

**Rima: Yay. *yawns* Is there something new? Instead of me being tortured by my mother?**

**Nagihiko: Go easy on Rima-chan for me, Lynn. *begs with puppy eyes***

**Lynn: *gulps* I can't give in, I can't give in, Rima's suffering is crucial to the story…**

**Rima: Whatever. I still get a happy ending,riht? *glares* RIGHT? **

**Lynn: *backs away as much as possible* Yes. Now, I don't own Shugo Chara!

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

Nagihiko and I walked into the Royal Garden with Nagihiko still glancing at me every now and then worried. Amu started doing the same as well. I winced. Did I do a really bad job at fixing myself up?

"Rima, you look really pale. Are you getting enough sleep? The nightmares don't come too often, right?"

Thank God, she was referring to my almost daily nightmares not the bruises or my limping. I really don't want anyone to find out. And yes, it was because of the pity I would receive. I can just hear everyone (maybe with the exception of Nagihiko) talking amongst themselves how sorry they felt for me for having abusive parents. Amu herself was unknowingly giving me pity; she was worrying about me, I know, but I could still hear the pity in her voice and that stung. A lot.

"I'm fine, Amu. I already got the talk from Nagihiko. Don't give it to me again," I rolled my eyes, trying my hardest to keep up my façade. "Seriously, I think Yaya was right, you and Nagihiko are like my parents around here."

I was just joking about it, but I knew that my real parents would be the complete opposite of my friends. Nagihiko's jaw tightened considerably in an effort not to make a comment on how bad my parents really were. If Amu only knew about all the fights my parents had gotten into over me. And then… last night.

I didn't like thinking about last night. It was too horrible to live through again. From experience to my mom's personality and habits, I have a feeling that there is way more to come. I just have to make sure I can handle it.

Nagihiko's jaw was still tightly clenched before he finally managed to relax and calm down. I smiled at him and grabbed hold of the back of his cape and leaned my head against his back. He almost jumped in surprise before smiling apprehensively and then started to walk. I followed him, my hand still clutching his cape but I was no longer leaning against him.

Amu giggled at the sight of us. That was then I realized I must have looked like. I must have really looked like I was treating Nagihiko as my dad! I mean, holding the back of his cape right at the edge where I can reach, isn't that something a little kid would do? I blushed. I didn't love Nagihiko that way, no way in hell.

"Well, it's time for class, so we better hurry up!" Amu called out to me as she ran out of the building. I sighed and quickly followed her.

Nagihiko grabbed my hand just as I was about to open the door and pinned it to the wall. I looked up at him, knowing instantly what he was going to talk about. I can't believe I had been figured out already.

"Nagihiko, just spit it out. I know what you are going to say."

He took a deep breath before making his whole ranting speech. "How could your mom do this to you? Beating you up? No, don't give me that sad look, you know you DID get beaten up badly. And yes, I know you covered most of them with concealer and- of course I know how to tell, I've worn makeup! Stop laughing, it was for Nadeshiko and dance performances!" He yelled at me as I made different expressions for each sentence.

"Anyways," Nagihiko continued. "How could you not tell me right away?"

"I don't know, Nagihiko, I just didn't want to worry you!"

After a few minutes of awkward silence, his face softened as he looked into my eyes. "I know. I'm sorry for yelling at you, I guess I just got frustrated at you. I'm sorry."

I nodded weakly. Then a crash was heard as a person dropped through the window from the roof. She wore a black gothic dress with a cream white scarf stylishly wrapped around her neck. Red highlights decorated her black hair.

"What do we have here? I get ordered to infiltrate the guardian's hideout and I see a love scene between the queen and jack? Not exactly what I expected, hm?"

I blushed but I was angry at the same time. "Who the hell are you?"

"Tsk tsk tsk. Not nice language, girl. But it won't hurt to know that I work for the SFE Inc."

"SFE? IS it related to Easter, you goth?"

"Rima, language." Nagihiko muttered under his breath. I glared at him.

"Should I care about that?" I yelled at him as the weird gothic girl laughed.

"Feisty, feisty… well, I think I got enough information just by looking at you two, hm? Ja ne."

"And your freaking' name is?" I yelled at her. I don't know why, but I was just so angry at her that my language went off the scale that it normally was on. And maybe I was venting pent-up emotions that I kept bottled in me.

She smirked at me. "Riki. Remember it, Loser Queen." She hopped back out from the window she had opened in the roof. I was fuming in anger.

"Calm down, Rima-chan," Nagihiko said to me but he had no right to tell me that! He looked very angry right now too.

"Speak for yourself."

"Does that girl have any connection to the X-Egg? Do you think there's a possibility?"

"Maybe… that means we have to meet her again someday."

"Yes, but not for a friendly chat in a café with coffee," Nagihiko said sarcastically. I smirked in reply.

"No duh, Sherlock. But it'll be friendly enough. The battle scene will be decided by her."

"Ooh, a serious Rima-chan. Haven't seen that in a while."

"Shut up, crossdresser. Seeing an angry you isn't very common either. Anyways, SFE? What company is that?"

"I don't know. Maybe we should be smart and look it up on the computer?"

"How should I know, you're the smart one here." I snorted.

He raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really."

"Wait just a second… aren't we late for class?" Nagihiko asked looking at the clock hanging on the wall.

"Can't we just skip today? I mean, we just met that weird Riki enemy."

Nagihiko looked dubious for a moment but then gave me a stern look. "For today, skipping but we're doing guardian work. We are going to look up whatever that girl told us. And no backing out."

"Darn," I muttered. "I was hoping you would do it."

He grinned evilly. It wasn't a pleasant or scheming grin at all. It was plain evil. "Of course not. Now we are heading to the library."

"Noo! I'm not doing work!"

But he grabbed my hand and started dragging me away.

I was being 'kidnapped' by Nagihiko to do work. Ugh.

* * *

**And that was a really bad chappie, although it introduced one of the main antagonists, Riki! Anyways, please reveiw! **


	12. Stupid Fujisaki forEver

**Lynn: I'm BACK! MANY THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS, I won't name them because then I'll write everyone's name (0_0) and that'll be too much work for me.**

**Rima: Lazy are you? Can't you write down WeDidItForTheDead at least? Or Bookfan22 a.k.a Gwenfan22? **

**Lynn: Yeah, but I want to thank EVERYONE.**

**Rima: Whatever, do it when your story reaches towards the end. Shugo Chara doesn't belong to Lynn. The Stupid SFE does. **

**Nagihiko: *holding back laughs* Rima-cha~n *still trying to hold it back….* **

**

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

I found my poor bruised body literally flying in the air as Nagihiko ran to the library. He plopped down into a seat in front of a computer and started to type in the stupid company's name.

"Rima-chan, what do you think it stands for?" Nagihiko asked me as he scrolled down the results list from google.

"I don't know. Maybe 'Stupid Fujisaki Forever'?"

Nagihiko choked back a laugh. "That's what you came up with? The 'E' doesn't start with an 'F'!"

"Yeah but can't we write it as 'Stupid Fujisaki forEver'? So the 'E' lands in the middle of 'forever'? Please?"

"No, Rima-chan. And that doesn't make sense," Nagihiko laughed again, this time unrestrained. "Found it! SFE Inc. is a company well known for its scientific discoveries in medicine and other fields of science. It's well known that its founders are previous scientists of Easter before Easer decided to close down…"

A HUGE silence occurred…..

"WHAT? EASTER'S SCIENTISTS!" Nagihiko yelled out loud. The librarian lady came over with the angriest look on her face.

"No yelling in my beautiful peaceful library! Get out right now, pesky guardians!" She shrieked at us.

She continued to scream at us as we ran out of the library with our lives.

"Nagihiko! We're supposed to be in class, not running in the hallways!" I screamed as I was once again flying in the air.

"It's okay, we're guardians!"

"THAT DOESN'T COUNT!"

"Fujisaki, Mashiro! IN CLASS NOW, YOU ARE THIRTY MINUTES LATE!" Our teacher yelled at us after slamming the door. We froze in our tracks at our teacher. We gulped in fear.

Amu and Tadase peeked out from behind the teacher. Thank God the teacher didn't notice Amu. Amu was smirking at us and I knew what she was implying. I blushed heavily.

The teacher mistook my blushing for embarrassment. "Good Mashiro, I knew you are feeling guilty. Now get in class now with Fujisaki please."

I was desperate not to go in there. Even if Amu was there I didn't want to go. I had to think of a plan! "Nagihiko," I whispered. "When I say 'prince' we're running like the wind out of school until lunch. Okay?"

Well my plan went earlier than planned because Tadase heard the 'prince'. And the telltale _poing_ went off and the crown appeared on his head. I smirked.

"RUN!" I grabbed Nagihiko's hand and dashed as fast as my little legs could take. In the hallways I could hear the "MWAHAHAHAHA" of Tadase.

I giggled.

When we were on the roof, Nagihiko and I were panting as we began to laugh our heads off.

"Rima-chan, that was brilliant!" Nagihiko laughed.

"I know, right? That was awesome!"

Life must hate me because I second later, my bruises started to hurt like hell. I winced as I started to whimper. Nagihiko was still laughing too hard to notice.

I managed to hide my pain just in time for Nagihiko to look up at me. He grinned at me and I just couldn't help but melt into that smile…

But we had a problem. A MAJOR one.

Easter- or part of Easter at least- was after us again. And it targeted ME this time.

I guess life REALLY hates me.

* * *

**Nagihiko's POV**

I finally stopped laughing when I realized it started to rain. Rima looked up at the sky and smiled brightly, dancing lightly under the drizzle. She looked so cute that I couldn't' resist and started to dance with her, her hands in mine. We twirled around like little kids would do and we just had a lot of fun.

But then Rima started to sneeze and we quickly went back inside, just standing on the stairs. I got a good look at her then and what I saw made my breathing stop.

I should have realized that the rain washes off the concealer. I think she didn't get waterproof…

Because all her bruises were huge and horrible and VERY noticeable.

It was hard to tell where her normal skin color was anymore on her legs. It was all black, blue and purple. I winced when part of her face was light purple also. I winced even more at how much her mother hurt her.

Rima looked at me curiously. "Nagihiko, what's-" She followed my gaze to her legs and widened her eyes in shock. "No, no… It can't have washed off, it CAN'T." She wailed in a whisper. She curled into a ball again but I could see her wince at the pain even that caused.

I knelt down next to her and asked her. "Why didn't you tell me it was this bad?"

"Same answer as before. I didn't want to worry you. I cause you too much trouble already."

I looked at her sternly and pulled her lightly to her feet. I led her down the stairs and out of the school building.

"N-Nagihiko, where are we going?'

I gently smiled at her. "We're going to get you bandaged up. Now."

"But where?" Rima whined. "Not the hospital, please…" she begged.

"We're not going to the hospital." I told her. Her face relaxed and relief was all over her face. "No, we're going to my house."

Rima stared at me wide-eyed as I continued walking.

* * *

**YAY! Chapter done! **

**Sorry for the really crappy chapter! I'll try better but this fanfic just doesn't appeal to me, i dont' like it... too emoish for me. **

**Riki didn't show up in this chapter. Sorry if this story is really slow. I've noticed that but I can't help it… this fanfic isn't listening to me. *sighs***

**PLEASE REVIEW! THANKS AGAIN TO ALL the REVIEWERS AND READERS! YAY!**


	13. a look at the enemy side

**Sorry for not updating this story in a month!**

**Rima: Yeah, you were focusing on my singing in 'my music life' weren't you?**

**Lynn: Yeah, you're right. I don't own Shugo Chara!

* * *

**

**Riki's POV**

I stood against the wall, bored out of my mind. This stupid company was just plain annoying yet I couldn't quit. My whole life was annoying. Everything was annoying.

For example, that couple in the Royal Garden. 'Love' was practically emanating from them, it was disgusting. Here I was, forced to do the dirty work of this company and what do I get? Two Guardians that were helplessly in love. It seemed that the blonde didn't realize it though.

I flipped my black hair over my shoulder and I adjusted my scarf. I was waiting for what, two hours, and the fricking director still hasn't come yet? Annoying.

"Ah, Riki-san. You're here."

I rolled my red eyes at what he said. "No duh."

"So what have you found out?"

"Your test subject, Mashiro Rima the Queen's Chair, is suffering pretty badly already from the MF-eggs. She's already been having the nightmares about her fears and the effect we have on her parents is astonishingly easy. Her mother is already abusing her from her own despair of divorce." I said as sarcastically as possible. I was bored, and this didn't amuse me one bit.

"Good work. You may continue spying on them."

"Whatever. I want answers though. Amuse my poor mind."

"You're only a lowly employee. Why should you know anything?"

"Because I'm the 'lowly' spy who's doing your most dirty work while the other 'lowly employees' do the not-so-dirty work."

"Fine! What do you want?"

I smirked. "What else? Information. On everything about my mission and the little details in the background." I said, absent-mindedly looking at my nails.

"Fine. What first?"

"Motive. The reason why you're doing all this."

The director glared at me. "I know what motive means. The Guardians took everything from me. So I'm just getting revenge."

I raised my eyebrows. "Revenge? Not death?"

"I would rather watch them suffer than just go off into the afterlife without any worries."

Hm, that was rather well-said. "Nice choice. Now what are these MF-eggs?"

"MF-eggs have x-egg origins but it's not an x-egg. Instead of making a person have no hope in their dreams-which is what x-eggs do if you do not already know- , MF-eggs manipulate your nightmares. Depending on who you affect with MF-eggs, you can make one person's worst nightmares come true. Sadly, it only works with one fear at a time." He sighed.

My eyes twitched. "Why MF though? What does that stand for?"

"'Manipulating Fear'. It's fitting."

I rolled my eyes once more. This man bores me. "Yeah, as fitting as my scarf."

He glared at me but I could really care less. The only reason I took this job was: 1) I was forced/blackmailed, 2) I need the money, and finally 3) my life needs some excitement and drama.

"Well, that's all the information I want at the moment. Ja ne, loser Director." I jumped out the side window despite the yells from the stupid man. Ha, I just broke his window.

Seriously, he must have some serious grudge. MF-eggs? Really? Sounds childish, and immature.

And really, why just that one Guardian? Why not just all of them? His mind is warped.

I walked through the town. I got curious glances by everyone at my red highlights. Personally, red is an awesome color for highlights. **(A/N: I don't quite agree…)**

Anyways, might as well spy some more. I have nothing better to do. Time to see more QueenxJack love. Whoop-de-do.

* * *

**I personally find it fun to write in Riki's POV. Although I get so irritated when I have to write about her hate for rimahiko-ness and her love for red highlights it's just her character… and I have to deal with it. urghh...  
**

**Thanks for reading~**


	14. dokidoki bandages

**Lynn: Hey everyone! I'm so sorry for the late update, and the lack of rimahiko in the other chapter! I know, everyone was upset in the rimahiko bashing that Riki did and I'm upset at her too!**

**Riki: then why did you create me? *looks at fingernails in boredom***

**Lynn: *steam coming out of ears, face is red***

**Nagihiko: Ok, Lynn, deep breaths in and out. **

**Rima: I agree… oh and Riki? *glares* get the hell out of here.**

**Nagihiko: Ok, Shugo Chara doesn't belong to Lynn! ^^;

* * *

**

**Rima POV**

"N-nagihiko! Put me down! I'm fine, I'm fine!" I squirmed from Nagihiko's grasp as he was carrying me down the sidewalk bridal-style. "Do you have any idea how cliché this is?"

"Yeah, I know it's cliché. But I love carrying you like this. Don't you feel like a princess?" He smiled oh-so-innocently at me. Really, I could see the sparkles just coming from him.

"No, I don't. I feel like a victim of a 'nice' kidnapping." I grumbled. He chuckled as he continued down the street. My face was either red from embarrassment or… what was I feeling?

"Ne, Rima, you're face is red. Do you have a fever? You know symptoms are blushing, heart beating faster than normal, stuttering, looking at the person with loving eyes-"

"Aren't you stating symptoms of loving someone? That's not a fever, you know." I snapped. But I was blushing again. He had to say everything I've been doing ever since he confessed- HOLD IT! Why am I thinking this?

"Rima, you're blushing again~." Nagihiko laughed silently.

I pouted, making the fish lips that Yaya did so often. "Shut up. And why the drop of honorific?"

He laughed even more, his Nadeshiko side coming in for a second. "I thought you'd never notice," he fake-sighed. "I guess I have to call you 'Rima-chan' again… It's way too long."

"Stop exaggerating. It's only an honorific." Oh my god, I was blushing again! What is this?

"I like 'Rima' though."

"While you're still carrying me, you better stop or I'll end up kicking you." I said, a glint in my eye.

"Hmm, then I better do something that'll keep you busy." He said a smirk on his face.

"You're not going to do what I think you're going to- mmmpphh!" I got interrupted as his lips crashed into mine. This is getting way too repetitive…

I got too absorbed into the kiss. My arms now were tightly around his neck and my whole upper body was twisted just so I could kiss him better. Seriously, wasn't I enjoying this a little TOO much?

I can't remember how, but somehow his tongue was in my mouth, exploring and tasting me. It felt so awkward and it just felt… It felt-

I pushed him away. "N-nagihiko? What's WRONG with you? Did you get smacked in the head or something?"

His eyes seemed to snap open as if from a trance. He blinked a few times and looked at me. When he saw my expression he immediately blushed. Heh, that was the second time- WAIT, I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THINKING THAT!

"Did I just…?" He asked, his face paling while I just blushed at the memory.

"Y-yeah…"

"…."

Awkward silence… but it's all NAGIHIKO'S fault!

"So can you put me down now?" I asked a little coldly. He blinked, probably still in shock of what he just did.

Seriously, was that all hormones, or did his mind and sense of reason 'somehow' go flying out the window, saying "Bye! Go kiss Rima"? I mean, really, he just HAD to do that? I mean, yeah he kissed me before but he took advantage of the situation! **(A/N: yes, Rima, Nagi just took advantage of your bruises to kiss you. Have you ever considered his confession from Ch. 6?)**

"Oh, uh… sorry, no. You still have these huge bruises that probably hurt as hell. So the answer is no."

I just turned away from him. I couldn't really have eye contact with him, especially after he just kissed me with tongue. According to all the romance novels I read, girls LIKE it when their boyfriends kiss them and make out with them. But me? I guess I haven't grown up enough to do it.

"Rima-chan, I have a question…"

"Hm?"

"Where else did your mother hit you? Besides your face and arms and legs."

I paled at the thought; I was reliving one of my worst memories. It made my heart feel heavier than normal, and it hurt. But the least I could do to keep him from worrying is acting as if it didn't hurt me as much as it really did. As if it was something I could overcome quickly. Acting like it so much that I convince myself that is what actually happened.

"Probably my sides too. But you covered everything else." I whispered.

**Nagihiko's POV**

Sheesh, her mother did no mercy on Rima-chan then. What was she thinking? Hurting her daughter like that? And based on Rima's talk about her parents when we went to look at the peach blossoms, they were a happy family until her kidnapping. Back then, she had truly loved Rima. Why couldn't she just muster some of that love from back then?

And then there was that problem with the weird X-Eggs too. **(A/N: now known to us as MF-Eggs, but not to them) **It seemed to cause Rima nightmares about her parents, which just made the situation worse, because now it was happening in real life. Wait, real life…

What if the weird X-Eggs makes the person it affects' nightmare come true? That could explain everything! But wasn't that just too simple to figure out? No… there's got to be some kind of missing fact. But what was it? Could it be that-

"Nagihiko? You were spacing out just now." Rima looked at me with that indifferent stare of hers.

I ignored her for a sec and tried to continue my thoughts. Where did I leave off? Right, I was at the part where the weird X-Eggs makes the nightmares come true… Damn, I can't remembernow!

"Na-gi-hi-ko!" Rima said sharply. I looked at her. "Geez, I've been calling your name for a while now! Do you have any idea where you're going? This isn't the way to your house!"

"That's because I'm taking my secret path."

"Another cliché."

"Sorry," I grinned. "But that's how it is."

I continued walking down the path and we ended up at a door that led to my basement (which served as my game room) which was directly under my room. It even had these cool winding stairs and even a fireman's pole. Oh, and the fireman's pole came up from inside my walk-in closet. So Rima didn't see it when she slept over. About the stairs, it leads to a trapdoor in the floor.

I lead Rima up the stairs as she stared wide-eyed at me. I lifted the trapdoor to show her my room again and she stared dumbfounded.

"How come I didn't notice all this when I slept over?" She demanded. I shrugged.

"Wait here, I'll go get some bandages, ok?" And so I left.

**Rima's POV**

I really wondered how he kept this all a secret from me. Having a cool room like this? Really, that's just mean.

I sat on his bed as I waited. Wasn't it on this bed that he confessed to me just right after I woke up? And then I told him I didn't know what my feelings were so I somewhat rejected him? But was that even a rejection?

"Hm, you seem troubled, loser Queen."

That Riki girl was sitting on the window sill, her legs crossed. She adjusted her scarf and flipped her hair before looking at me.

"Really, it's so boring to watch you and that Jack. This is all so cliché, you know? Can't you just give something more interesting to watch? Like a heartbreak, for example."

"Shut up! Like you're one to talk. Coming in through windows and flipping your hair: all so cliché."

"At least I don't have love problems. Especially if your answer is right in front of you."

"Huh?" This girl is talking all nonsense! The answer is right in front of me? Pfttt.

She sighed. "You are SO dense it's boring. I think I'll just watch you get beaten up by your mother the next time you go back home. Heh, but what's 'home' for you? You don't have a true home. Ja ne." She jumped down from the window to the ground.

Her words shot threw me like sharp arrows and knives. I looked down at the floor, my bangs covering my now wet eyes. I don't have a real 'home'? What does she mean by that? Not to mention, HOW DOES SHE KNOW OF MY FAMILY SITUATION, that STALKER!

"HEY! YOU DON'T JUST COME HERE OF YOUR OWN FREE WILL AND SAY STUFF LIKE THAT!"

" Uh, Rima-chan? I can come here of my own free will because it's my ROOM." Nagihiko said from behind me.

I swiftly turned around. "N-nagihiko?"

He slightly frowned. "Yeah, it's me."

"But you- never mind. So you're going to bandage me up?"

"Yeah, so could you take off your knee-highs and roll up your sleeves all the way? Or you could just wear a tank top and save yourself the sleeve trouble."

"I always wear a tank-top underneath my shirt so if that's fine.." I motioned for him to turn around and he did. I took off my school sweater and then my blouse so I only wore a plain white and orange tank top underneath. "You can turn around now."

He turned around and then looked at me skeptically. "You're hiding all those bruises with concealer right? It didn't all wash off."

I gave him the 'No duh, Sherlock. Do you think I would worry my friends like that if I just came in with bruises all over?' look.

He sighed. "Thank God I brought the makeup remover…"

"So you're just basically going to wipe that stuff all over me?" I shuddered at the thought.

"Who was the one that put concealer all over you?"

He got me there. "… Me."

"Exactly. Now just sit still, ne?" He came over and took one arm, wiping makeup remover on it.

I let him do the work, turning my head to the other side like a little kid would do when receiving a shot at the doctor's as he finished removing all the concealer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him cringe and grit his teeth. I looked over at my arm and winced.

It was a lot worse than when I last saw it. It was now a very dark purple and blue and now that I was thinking about it, my arm was aching everywhere. Soon enough, my whole body was aching from the bruises.

He obviously wanted to say something but he kept silent as he got the ointment and bandages out. He began applying ointment and I tried to hide my reactions to when he touched the bruises. He stopped and looked at me with a nervous expression.

He gently wrapped the bandages around my arm and I felt a little happy that it was at least covered and on its way to healing.

"That arm's .." Nagihiko mumbled as he moved to the other arm. I watched and winced as he did the same for my other arm and my two legs.

"You said that you had bruises on your side too… right?" He blushed and so did I. That means…

"I have to pull up my shirt?" I exclaimed in shock and he blushed.

"Um, uh…"

"No way. I'd rather have those done by myself." I 'hmphed' and crossed my arms.

"But your arms are all wrapped up tightly in bandages. So how are you possibly going to your sides?" He pointed out.

"So you'd rather my pulling up my shirt?" I said in disgust as he blushed.

"No, but…"

Sigh… this was going to be a LONG day.

* * *

**There is another chapter of TBS! I wonder what's going to happen with Rima and Nagi? **

**Also what was Nagi thinking about~ he almost cracked the mystery! ^^**

**Please R&R !**


	15. a sudden attack

**I haven't updated in more than a month! Yikes… **

**I was looking back and I notice that the PLOT ISNT MOVING AT ALL! AND THERE ARE A LOT OF FILLERS! Urgh.. I'm bad at writing stories. **

**From now on, I'll try not to make too many fillers and move along with the plot I had intended. So I'm sorry if this story was bad so far! Hontou ni gomenasaiii!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shugo Chara.

* * *

**

**Rima's POV**

If I have to pull up my shirt so he can bandage my bruises, won't he get a glimpse of my bra while he's at it? I can't be some kind of sick flasher!

"…Can't you ask one of your maids to do it? Please?"

"But that means an hour-long interrogation. You probably don't want any attention to come to this right?"

I nodded, realizing he was right.

"What about this, you take a rubber band or hair tie, and then tie part of our tank-top behind your back right above where the bruises end. That's okay right? You can just pretend you're wearing a bikini top or something."

Yeah, if that helps. Pfft. But I guess it's better than what I thought. I just hope he isn't a bigger pervert later.

After that whole ordeal had happened, he decided to go out of the room to bring something for us to eat. I sat obediently on his bed and took his absence as a chance to put the uniform back on over my tank-top.

I sat there for about twenty minutes, wondering what was taking him so long. Surely he knows his way around his huge house well enough to come back before twenty minutes?

That's when I saw it. Outside the window, smoke and a fog was outside. I remembered my nightmares and I couldn't help but feel scared. Yet, something attracted me to it and soon before I knew it, my eyes hazed over and I lost control over my consciousness. It felt like falling through quicksand, fast and before i could count to twenty.

The last thing I thought before I was controlled. _My punishment for being kidnapped and being the cause of parents' divorce finally came. That weird Riki girl was right. I have no true home. Because my definition of 'home' is where a loving family is there. My loving family disappeared the moment I was kidnapped. All my fault._

**Nagihiko's POV**

I don't know why, but fate seemed to be on my bad side today. For some reason, obstacles kept getting in my way. First, I met up with Baaya and she insisted I go into the living room and say hello to my mother, who just came home. Without a choice, I walked to the living room and greeted her.

"Nagihiko, you have dance practice thirty minutes from now. Please don't forget." She told me sternly, although she was smiling.

I mentally smacked myself. How could I forget? "Okay, I will come. I'm just going to get something to eat."

I hurried out before my mother could say another word to my face. She slightly yelled at me to come back since she had more things to say. Temari was disappointed in me while Rhythm didn't seem to care.

I quickly made rice balls for Rima and hurried down a secret hallway to my room. Once again, it ended somewhere in my closet and I opened the hidden door only to get hit in the face with hangers. I winced and crouched down. I walked out of my closet to see the most surprising yet predictable thing ever.

The plate of rice balls in my hand crashed to the ground.

**Rima's POV**

I regained control of my conscience when I realized that I was back in my parents' house. Yes, at this point, I refused to call it my own.

But what was I doing here? Wasn't I at Nagihiko's house? That must be silly, he would never like me… no matter how much I loved him back.

Wait…didn't he confess? Nah, I must have been imagining it. He hates me.

Tears ran down my cheeks as I sobbed my heart out. Even Kusukusu wasn't with me.

**Riki's POV**

I stood against the wall of the Director's office. Just for his petty revenge, I was forced to charanari. How troublesome.

I watched two screens showing the jack and queen separately. The jack was so darn angry at what happened in his room that he didn't hear his mother calling for a dance lesson, while the queen was just sobbing her poor heart out against her bed sheets.

"Ha! They had it coming to them" I wanted to sneer at them. This was finally something worth seeing. My unique charanari was finally useful.

"BWAHAHAHA! NOW WITH TWO MF-EGGS IN THAT GIRL WECAN MANIPULATE ALL HER FEARS NOW! SHE'S PRACTICALLY OUR PUPPET NOW! BWAHAHAHAA-UGH!"

That was it. Why is that stupid and loser Director taking credit. I slammed my fist against his head. He's such an irritating person!

"I'm leaving." Maybe I can inflict more damage. I smirked at the plan that appeared in my head.

My scarf was starting to get loose and I harshly flipped it so it was properly around my neck again. No one messes with me. No matter how unintentionally.

* * *

**Wow. Is this one short chapter or what? **

**I hope that was better than the last 14 chapters… despite the shortness. I hope it wasn't a too sudden plot switch. I'm really starting to feel bad on how this fanfic will end and I'm thinking of rewriting this story. Maybe after I actually finish the fanfic. Thanks for reading this fanfic! (despite my horrible mistakes… T_T)**

**Please review? **


	16. Turn of Events

**Lynn: Yess, I'm on a roll for this story now! My mind used to be blank! WOOHOO!**

**Rima: finally. You've been busy with MML and my music whatever-you-call-it. **

**Nagihiko: But I like Rima's voice. It's pretty.**

**Rima: *shy all of a sudden and very OOC* *mumbles* you too…**

**Nagihiko: *didn't hear* what?**

**DISCLAIMER- Lynn: Shugo Chara doesn't belong to me!**

**Rima: *relieved* thanks for saving me.**

**Nagihiko: who said I wouldn't stop trying to figure out what you were saying? **

**Rima: ummm. Oops. *runs away with Nagihiko chasing after her*

* * *

**

**Nagihiko POV**

What the hell just happened in my room?

My room had all the books strewn on the floor and the Rima's bandages were left on the floor. Her bag had been turned over and random pages of her notebooks were torn out and ripped into pieces. Which were also on the floor.

Who had done this to Rima's belongings? I clenched my fists in anger. Where was RIMA?

I ignored my mother's shouts to tell me to go down for my dance lesson. I didn't care. Rima was gone and I have to go down for a DANCE LESSON?

Where was that girl anyways? I was worried as hell for her, since she just left without any warning. She couldn't have gone back to her house, since she's avoiding her mom.

Now what do I do about this mess? Maybe I can hide this mess under my bed if my mother decides to come. I did that and I escaped down the trapdoor in the floor.

I was glad that this trapdoor, the fireman pole in the closet, and the secret passageway in the closet was completely unknown to my mom and most of the slaves. Now, I have to find Rima.

_~-TBS-~_

I never found Rima and the next day at school, I was surprised that she was at school.

"Rima! Where were you yesterday? You scared me."

Rima turned around and she looked at me with heart-broken eyes. But when she spoke, her voice was cold. "Stop pretending that you care. It's disgusting how you play around with other's feelings like that," she scoffed. "Anyways, why would you be scared for me? You hate me."

My eyes widened. What the hell happened? Did she forget that I confessed to her? I desperately grabbed hold of Rima's hand as she tried to walk towards the school building. "Not so fast. Why would I hate you? Did you forget already?"

She whipped around, and gave me a full glare. Not the childish ones she gave to me when we first met and were rivals for Amu's friendship, but glares that showed complete hate. "Forget WHAT, exactly? And stop playing dumb. You've hated me since the moment you came into my life. I stole Amu from you, the Amu that you've had a crush on ever since- oh I don't know- forever? So stop trying to play nice. It makes me hate you even more, knowing it's all a stupid, ugly, big, fat LIE."

She slapped her hand away from my grip and I could only stand there in shock. Once again, I grabbed her hand and pulled her into a hug. "But Rima... I don't hate you. You know that better than anyone else."

She stomped on my foot and pulled away from me. "Stop lying and being a playboy. You're the kind of boys I hate the most. Boys who lie about their feelings and do things that'll give a girl false hope to only throw them away the next day. You're exactly like that. I hate you."

She gave me one glare before I finally couldn't hold in my shock. I somewhat calmly walked into the Royal Garden, although I was completely devastated inside. I sunk into a chair and put my head in my hands. I couldn't understand what had happened to Rima and turned her into an emotionless devil.

She wasn't the same anymore. It was like she got brainwashed into hating me. Or maybe hypnotism. Kusukusu, after seeing how Rima was, decided to stay with Temari, Rhythm, and me. I couldn't blame her. Seeing Rima the way she is right now was torture.

"Hey, what's up Jack? You look depressed."

I looked up to see Souma, who was grinning with Daichi.

He went into full teasing mode as he took the chair across from me. "Girl problems?"

"You're right."

He stared at me shocked as if he didn't expect that from me. "Dude, if this is about Hinamori-"

"It's not Amu-chan."

He thought for a moment and suddenly his face darkened. "It's about Mashiro's personality change, isn't it?"

"How did you know?" I was surprised he knew already.

"I bumped into her earlier and she was the best example of evil that I ever saw. Much eviler than the X-Eggs," he shivered. "That glare was horrible. What did you say to her?"

"I didn't say anything to her. She just decided all of a sudden that I hated her since forever. It's weird, since yesterday we were good friends. She's making me worry more especially since that weird X-Egg attack on her."

"Oh yeah, I remember Yaya mentioning that. But knowing Mashiro, it's not going to last long. Comedy will make her feel better." He then snickered. "I still can't believe you're having girl problems when you were once a girl yourself."

"Shut up, Souma."

**Rima's POV**

There, I went and said it. But he seemed that he cared very much. It must be my imagination.

I loved the guy a lot, but he never loved me in return.

I flipped open a comedy book and started giggling and laughing at the jokes. But even with comedy, that fear that Nagihiko would never like me back kept eating away at me, until all that was left was fear. I know what I said just made it worse, but I was so scared of his hate that I subconsciously pushed him away myself. I even made it seemed like I hated him more than anything.

What was wrong with me? If I loved him, shouldn't I be trying to get him to love me, not the other way around? Yet I'm acting like I hate his guts.

Another thing that was bothering me was the fact I could not remember what happened last night. I remember seeing that smoke and fog before next thing I know, I'm at my parent's house.

I shrugged. What I did last night wasn't important.

I had to figure out where Kusukusu is, why I'm acting so weird, and what exactly is going to happen from now on.

I abruptly changed directions and instead of heading to school I ran to the park. It was where that X-Egg attacked me. I could find clues. I've had nightmares, and now all of a sudden I went and did something that isn't normal. I need answers. (**A/N: Rima needs knowledge!)**

"Mashiro!" I heard someone distantly call my name but I ignored it.

I turned around when I felt a weird presence but I was promptly knocked out again, and this time I couldn't forget that face who knocked me out.

That insane Riki girl.

**Utau's POV**

I was taking a break from my work in this new musical. People from the set would be chasing me around, but HEY, I want freedom once in a while!

I sat down on a bench in the park when I spotted Kukai coming up to me. "Don't you have school?"

He smirked. "I'm skipping first class. It's boring Literature, anyways."

I shook my head. That guy will never learn.

We were eating ice cream and for once I smiled warmly. It was nice to have him by my side, as sappy as that sounded.

Then I noticed the shrimp standing somewhere near another bench. She looked as if she was looking for something.

Kukai had already called out, "Mashiro!" but she never heard. I half wanted to leave her there, it wasn't my problem. But Kukai looked worried and I couldn't ignore that.

Then we saw this girl suddenly appear behind her. She had black hair with red highlights and was wearing a black dress with a cream white scarf. She had these awesome black boots that I would have wanted but seeing it on her after knocking out Mashiro made me want to take back what I thought.

That girl turned to us. She smirked at seeing Kukai. "So you are the previous Jack. Well, I'll be taking the loser Queen then."

Kukai chara-changed with Daichi while I did the same with Iru. Kukai must be feeling some kind of older brother thing for her. Although I must admit I'm jealous, the way he looks at her and the way he looks at me are completely different. He looks at her like a friend's little sister while he clearly looks at me as his girlfriend. So I have nothing to worry.

That girl easily dodged our attacks and I huffed in frustration. A little chara appeared behind her scarf but before I could point it out to Kukai, the chara disappeared.

She sent out this weird power to us (most likely her chara's powers) and it made everything seem foggy and for a while I thought I was back at the ice cream stand getting the ice cream from before.

A minute later, everything was back to normal and I blinked in surprise. Kukai seemed to have the same reaction and we looked at the blank space where the weird girl and Mashiro should have been. That shrimp had just been kidnapped.

"Kukai…" I turned seriously to him and his face mirrored mine.

"We're having a talk with Fujisaki. It seems he's the only one who knows what happened to Rima the past few weeks."

* * *

**Phew, finished. I was thinking about putting this on hiatus but I never did, because I have this peeve of reading fanfics only to learn that it wasn't finished and completed. So just for that sake, I will try to continue this even with my horrible writing. The past something chapters have been mostly fillers and I don't like it. So from now on, no more fillers and straight on with what I had originally planned.**

**Thanks to:**

WeDidItForTheDead

RukiHina15

**OMG thanks so much! I knew this story was bad but I'm so happy people still read it! So thanks!**

**Please review! I don't mind flames. **


	17. Plan of Action: both sides

**Okay, I think the next chapter be the second-to-last one... that is, if I can write this well enough. Otherwise… expect maybe three to four more chapters. I SUCK at endings. **

**I'm so sorry for late updates! But I'm not going to say why, because I think people don't want to hear excuses but rather a good chapter to make it up, at the most. If my chapter is even good enough.**

**Disclaimer: Anyways, I don't own Shugo Chara! and I hope I can do it justice with this fanfic.**

* * *

**Kukai's POV**

"So you just let her go? Just like that?" I yelled at the long-haired boy in front of me. I just couldn't understand him; he just told me and Utau everything that had happened to Rima (thankfully excluding some parts of their obvious love life), and he didn't seem to even care.

"Do I have a choice? She was always beyond my reach! The whole time," Nagihiko muttered. "She was friends with me, but do you think she would actually consider me as a friend? Do you know what she said to me earlier today? She said that I hated her, and now she hates me. Where she got that idea I'll never know, but that just proves that I'll never get to be close friends with her."

Utau looked at me cautiously before giving a stern gaze at Nagihiko. "Seriously? Kid, you've got to be kidding me. I'm disappointed. I can't believe how confusing you made this for yourself."

"Fine, then. Make it simpler."

She flared up. "I never thought you were this weak! Fine, I'll spell it out or you. Mashiro is being controlled."

He looked up at her in surprise, and I couldn't help doing the same. "How did you figure that out?" I asked.

She turned to me seriously. "Just because I'm an idol doesn't mean I'm stupid. I notice stuff."

I would have teased her in saying no one said that she was stupid, but the situation was more serious. "Ok, what did you notice?"

"Right before we were attacked by that weird girl, I thought I saw a chara behind her. Then right after, we couldn't remember what we were doing, but after she left we did? What if she controlled what we thought? She's probably doing controlling Rima in the same way."

Nagihiko interrupted, "But Riki only appeared after Rima got hit by the weird Eggs! She started getting nightmares after, then her mom started to abuse her-"

Utau turned sharply onto Nagihiko. "That's right. The weird Eggs caused her nightmares and then turned them into reality! THAT's what I meant by controlling. It's making her fears come true, by controlling her and everyone's mind about her particular fear."

I whistled. "Nice, Utau. But aren't you forgetting something?"

"What?" She asked. I grinned.

"Mashiro's little angst this morning with Fujisaki. What does that have to do with the 'controlling' you were going on about?"

She scoffed, "That? He," she pointed to Nagihiko, "said that the day before, she had suddenly disappeared after he had gone to get food right? Maybe she got attacked by another of those weird controlling Eggs, this time not controlling her parent's divorce issue, but about her current relationship with Fujisaki."

I caught on a few "don't say 'relationship' like that so easily" complaints from Nagihiko. I smothered a laugh. Going by what he told us, he wasn't that embarrassed about it around Mashiro.

"But that does make sense. Good job, Utau!" I high-fived with her and she grinned back.

"Of course, I'm not a Tsukiyomi for nothing."

"So now that we know WHAT might be happening with Mashiro, now what do we do now?" I pointedly looked at Nagihiko, but he seemed deep in thought. He didn't hear my question.

"The thing is, Kukai, that we have next to no info about Riki's whereabouts and motives. We have no clue why she's doing this, or for who she's working for. If she is working for someone…" Utau trailed off, thinking of Easter although it's been known that it closed down.

"Ah! That was it!" Nagihiko exclaimed, and Utau and I were looking on in confusion. Nagihiko continued, "The first time Riki showed up, she said that she worked for SFE Inc.! And SFE is founded by the scientists of Easter!"

I clapped him on the back. "Good thinking, Fujisaki! Now off to kick some butt!" I made to go off in a direction, but Utau firmly kept a fist of the back of my jacket to prevent me from leaving. She gave me a glare, and I immediately but my hands up in surrender. "Hey, I was only trying to ease the tension!" She glared more and I sighed.

"The closest SFE building is nearby, and all we have to do is go there and find Rima." He said determinedly, and Utau nodded in approval.

"So… can we skip school for this?"

Utau and Nagihiko stared at me as if I was crazy. Then…

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

**Rima's POV**

Where am I?

I looked around me, and I was in a darkened room with a high window that let sunlight through. The only thing that was with me in this room was a comfy blanket. I shivered, not from the cold, but from the situation. It was exactly like my kidnapping from when I was little.

Heck, even the door was almost the same. It still reminded me of a jail door, although real ones would look far from what I saw. It had a small opening in the top part, but it looked like it could be covered from the outside. How I knew that? …my imagination runs off on me.

Suddenly I couldn't take it anymore. I started to silently cry, and I curled myself into a ball. If that Riki girl who kidnapped me was trying to put me through psychological torture, she was really succeeding in that.

…wait. RIKI kidnapped me? Why would she have any reason to? Sure she called me "loser queen", but that's not a reason for kidnapping.

"Oh. So you're not bawling your head off. Pity."

I glanced up at me, and I saw Riki in front of the door. When did she come in?

She sighed, and moved her hands in an 'I don't care' gesture. "Well, I shouldn't have bothered coming here anyways. I should have left the MF-Egg do its work."

I blinked. "MF-Egg?"

She quirked an eyebrow at me, as if I should know what she's talking about. That infuriating…

She sighed. "I might as well tell you everything. Under the MF-Egg's influence, you won't really have a chance to remember anything anyways."

My eyes narrowed as much as possible. I was still silently crying from the trauma my first kidnapping incident brought me.

"Mei and I have a hypnosis power. You see, I've always wanted to be a hypnotist. I grew up completely alone, and I always wanted to put me in a hypnotic state while I before I was asleep so that I'd somehow dream of living as a family."

I cringed at her words. I understood her feelings; I hated Mama and Papa's constant fighting.

"So I grew up with Mei. You'd never understand; I went homeless for most of my life. I was never put into a foster home. I don't even know why. But last year, SFE approached me and offered me a job. I wanted to say no; I mean, why would I want to work for those selfish bastards? And I got blackmailed into it. Was told that I would get a home, and a 'family'. Not to mention, I wouldn't have these red highlights and awesome clothes if I didn't get the money."

A spark of realization hit me. SFE! That's what I was trying to remember. That's why she kidnapped me, she worked for SFE, that company that had the previous scientists of Easter as the head.

Riki gingerly fingered her hair before continuing. "Of course, they wanted to use Mei's and my powers. They then made a MF-Egg, which used Mei' powers as its source. It made the victim relive his worst nightmare and even affecting the way he –or she, in your case- thinks. You've pretty much experienced how that works: you get attacked, it goes inside you, and BAM the damage is done," She smirked slightly. "Sadly, one MF-Egg works on only one nightmare at a time…"

I was feeling sick as I listened to her. My kidnapping trauma wasn't helping much either. I could even feel the bile slowly coming up my throat, and I quickly forced it down. I made an attempt of a glare at her, and I was hoping it would kill her.

She made a thoughtful face, as if she didn't even notice me. "Well… you've shown signs of resistance this morning against the Jack. You were questioning your own actions, weren't you? Well sorry, honey, but my hypnotic powers are stronger than you think." She grinned slightly evilly, and she turned to go out the door.

"And you think I'll give up resisting you and your MF-Egg?" I managed to spit out, but it sounded weak and afraid in my ears. She laughed softly but evilly.

"No, I haven't thought of that yet. And if you did stop… it won't be any fun. Mei, hypnosis please?"

A small chara wearing black gothic and blue highlights appeared from among the folds of her scarf. "Sure thing, Riki."

The blue highlights of Mei appeared on Riki as a wordless Chara Change came about. A stream of bubbles erupted from her outstretched hand, and it encircled Rima's head.

"Get off me, you stupid bubbles!" I couldn't hide the panic in my voice, as it went around me.

"I'm merely putting the MF-Eggs into active mode right now. Of course, the stupid director can do that, but I have more power than him. Right, Mei?"

Mei grinned. "Right."

And suddenly an unbearable pain went through me. Why hadn't Nagihiko come to find me yet? Why was Mama so upset at her divorce with Papa?

And the root of it all: I was kidnapped. It didn't matter which time, when I was a toddler or now. I was kidnapped, and it's the reason of everything.

I burst into sobs and I could barely hear the door closing shut and the ghost of a smirk haunting me.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-

**Nagihiko's POV**

"Well… this is it."

Kukai, Utau, and I stood in front of the SFE building. I really hoped Rima would be here.

"Fujisaki, maybe we should have brought Hinamori with us. She could purify the Eggs in Rima and wherever. Don't we need to do that?"

"Are you forgetting, Kukai, that I can also purify Eggs?" Utau's voice cut in, and a playful anger was in her voice. He rubbed the back of his head.

"Ehehe.. that's right!"

"And anyways, even if Hoshina-san wasn't here, I have Kusukusu, Temari, and Rhythm with me." I said, and the three emerged from underneath me hair.

Utau looked at me questioningly. "That doesn't mean that you can purify eggs."

"Whoa! Temari came back!" Kukai exclaimed at the same time. "Congrats, man!"

"Ahem, I've been here since the Easter incident, Souma-kun." Temari gingerly said, her face slightly disapproving from behind her fan.

A sweat-drop appeared on Kukai's face.

"As I was saying, when Rima is in Charanari is Kusukusu, we can purify Eggs. But's that's only if I'm in Charanari with Temari though."

Kukai whistled, impressed. "So you can purify Eggs now? Nice going, Fujisaki."

Utau crossed her arms impatiently. "Now can we get moving? Mashiro isn't in any position to save herself. She's powerless without Kusukusu."

I gave a look of determination. "Right. We're going in."

Kukai gave us a look. "How are we getting in?"

I shared a look with Utau, and we spoke at the same time. "We improvise."

He slapped his forehead. "I have a bad feeling about this…"

* * *

**I hope this was a good enough chapter! Please R&R!**

**A thanks to:**

WeDidItForTheDead

RukiHina15

Kukamu98

Hitsugayataichouda

Crossdresserxevilchibi

THE ZEEBRA KING

Nequam-tenshi

**Once again, feel free to flame, praise, or whatever in your review. ^^ I look forward to it!**


	18. Infiltration

**Has it been a month or more? If so (and it probably is) I've come back! Yayy!**

**Well, for those people who read my stories, you probably know I discontinued MML. That means I'm currently concentrating on this and my other story, Childhood Innocence (gakuen alice fanfic). **

**And the reason for this really late update? Um… I was busy reading fanfics, reading the new updates of Naruto and Bleach, and doing homework? **

**Well, I don't own Shugo Chara! It belongs to Peach Pit. **

**Now… onto Nagi and Utau's "improvision"! I totally got that from Pirates of the Carribean, if anyone noticed.**

* * *

**Kukai's POV**

This is absolutely positively crazy. It will be a miracle if I come out and survive this.

I mean, really, I was never in the fight with Easter's director and Hikaru! This is my first goddamn time!

So why, just WHY, am I carrying Fujisaki into a window?

_~.and hour and fourty minutes earlier.~_

"It's not like we can go right up to the front door! Then they'll know we're there for Rima, and it's going to be harder to find her!"

"We all know that, Fujisaki, which is why **we're not going through the freaking front door.**"

Well, Utau was as nice as always.

"We'll be going to the back of the building, and see if we can go through a back door." Utau stated, as if nothing else would change her mind.

"The thing is, Utau, what happens afterwards? We can't just go out back and then think Mashiro'll be in front of us, ready to be rescued." I said, frowning.

"We'll have to infiltrate then. Tell them we're new janitors or something. Then use that opportunity to listen for gossip, or do some spying. Better yet, get a map of the place. It should be in the lobby at the front."

I paled. "You're planning on going all out, aren't you?"

Utau scoffed. "Of course! What, you thought I'd do this half-heartedly? I'm not that cold."

Nagihiko looked at her in some kind of awe and gratitude. "Hoshina-san, tha-"

"Don't thank me, kid. If you must, do it with Mashiro when we rescue her."

_~.ten minutes later.~_

"You! Stop playing around, you three fools! You missed a corner there! This is a LAB you are cleaning, a LAB! The environment must be clean! Unspoiled by surrounding chemicals, until experiments explode and corrupt the cleanliness, but you left a dirty spot there! How could you-"

"Shut the hell up, you clean freak." Utau growled as she wacked him with the handle of the mop she was using.

Nagihiko and I shook our heads. We had somehow managed to get three janitor uniforms and immediately after, mops were shoved in our hands and we were led to a lab where a scientist was working.

So far, information on where Rima could be? Zero, nil, nada, nothing.

The scientist was supervising us, and his rants about how horribly we worked was starting to get on our nerves. I mean, how stupid can this company get? We are obviously students, and yet they seem to buy that we are janitors here. Then Utau snapped and… you know what happened.

And that's when the REAL janitor came in.

He was an old guy, probably really nice. Usually janitors are, right?

"You stupid maggots! Trying to steal my job, when all I'm trying to do is get some money to keep food on the table? Insolent brats!" He took the walkie talkie from the scientist passed out on the floor and pressed a button.

The three of us looked at each other in apprehension.

"BOSS! THERE'S THREE CHILDREN INFILTRATING THIS BUILDING! GET SECURITY!"

And we bolted as fast as we could down the hallway and with the janitor chasing us, we ran back outside and they locked the doors on us.

"That was productive…" Nagihiko panted as we took cover in some bushes, trying to figure out our next plan.

"I kinda expected that to go better. Utau, are you sure you haven't been in this building before?"

Utau shook her head. "No. This is SFE, created after Easter shut down. And since Easter shut down, I had no business whatsoever with this new company."

"Ok, but we need someone to go in and find out SOME information…"

"We should have done that before we came here, idiot!"

Nagihiko must feel like a third wheel. He needed to find Rima, but Utau and I…were arguing.

I looked over to Nagihiko, giving him an apologetic look. Nagihiko gave an understanding but imapatient look back at me. I turned towards Utau and sighed."Fine! Do you have your blackberry on you?"

Utau's hand immediately covered her pocket. "Why do you need my phone?"

"Internet. Information on the layout of the SFE building has to be on the internet."

Grudgingly, Utau handed over her phone. I instantly grabbed it, and started surfing the web. After a few minutes, I found a page. "Here,I found a map! The director's office is on the fourth floor, and next to it is… what?"

Nagihiko got to the phone before Utau did, his hand shooting out with a speed I didn't know he had. "MF-Egg manufacturing lab? What the heck?"

Utau snatched her phone back after giving glares to Nagihiko and me. She looked at the screen and noticed the small star next to the word 'lab'. Scrolling down to the end of the map, the star reappeared with the information 'Information on this lab is classified. Top secret.'

She pointed at the words. "This is where we're going to go. This is the best place to find information on Rima." As we read the new information, we nodded back at her.

"But the ultimate question is how are we going to get there? Infiltration as janitors didn't work." I pointed out.

Nagihiko and Utau looked at each other, and a look of recognition (of ideas) went between them as they replied seriously. "We improvise."

I smacked my forehead. "Oh my god…" I mean CAN THEY GET MORE SPECIFIC? Nagihiko grinned at me.

Utau sighed. "Fine. I'll go through the front doors as Hoshina Utau, the pop idol, and get myself an audience with the director. Meanwhile, I'll give a call if the coast's all clear and I'll tell you to go through the window, ok?"

Nagihiko's eyes seemed alarmed. "The fourth floor window?"

"Yes. Kukai can carry you up there on his skateboard during chara-nari, right?"

I internally groaned.

"Yeah," I grinned. "Just leave it to me!"

Nagihiko looked at his shoulder and then suddenly turned towards me. What did he need to say? "Ah, Souma, about that-"

"Okay. I'm going, ok?" Utau stood up, and she walked through the bushes out into the sidewalk.

* * *

**Utau's POV**

I stumbled out of the bushes onto the sidewalk, making sure no one saw me. I frowned as my hair sported a few leaves, and I impatiently pulled them out and fixed my hair. Then I walked down the sidewalk until I reached the front of the building. The building wasn't so bad... it looked professional enough. But this was the building that imprisoned one of Fujisaki's friends, and was pretty much going to go after the rest too. I went in, making sure I acted as if the building belonged to me.

Immediately, the person at the front desk recognized me and almost squealed with delight. I internally grinned as I walked up the front desk.

"Hello, my name is Hoshina Utau. Is there an opening with your director? I request an audience with him, if that's okay." I smiled, my professional self taking over.

The secretary fumbled as she checked the director's schedule. "I'm sorry, but he doesn't accept meetings without a prior appointment-"

I frowned, trying my hardest to be intimidating. "I'm sorry? Repeat that?"

"The director doesn't accept meetings without a prior appointment scheduled-"

"I heard the first time! But as far as I'm concerned, the director was previously a scientist for Easter, and I am related to Easter's boss aka YOUR director's boss. So I demand an audience with my relative's dear scientist, now," I glared. "I also have a busy schedule and it's a miracle that I have even CONSIDERED coming here in my short free time. So, I shall repeat myself. I want a meeting with your director NOW."

The secretary swallowed but still put up a strong front. Hm, she's not so bad. "Like I said," she continued firmly. "The director does NOT accept meetings without a prior appointment made."

I full out glared and snorted as I looked away. "Well, I'll have to change that. It's a matter of UPMOST importance, and I need an audience now."

The secretary finally crumbled, and she numbly nodded. She dialed a number, and spoke a few words into the phone, then hung up. "Hoshina-san. The office is on the fourth fl-"

"Thanks."

I went into the elevator where two scientists were talking. They didn't seem to notice me, and they continued talking.

"You know, the director is kinda crazy, as a lot of people notice while working with him."

"I wouldn't say crazy, just revenge-bent. I mean the lab he set up next to his office?"

"I know. And his history? It's no secret he wanted this 'embryo' and failed to get it, so he set up that lab in revenge to the people who ruined his chances at getting it."

The two scientists shook their heads exasperated at their director. They then walked out talking once more, and the elevator continued on its way to the fourth floor.

The elevator landed, and I walked out. That conversation was interesting…

I knocked on the door, and went in, not even bothering with a "come in" from inside.

The director was sitting at his desk, filling out paperwork. The days of the white scientist cloak were gone, and he wore a business suit. I nearly retched; the suit looked horrible on him.

He looked up and smiled pleasantly, although an underlying disgust was present. "Hoshina Utau? What a pleasant surprise? Tell me, what is the reason for this surprise visit?"

I fake smiled as I leaned against the back of the door. "Oh wouldn't you just love to know? I was merely interested in your MF-egg project."

The director looked affronted at this, but he masked it well. "How did you know about that?"

I shrugged. "One of your employees must have been careless. The map of this building was on the internet, and clearly pointed out the lab next door."

The director cursed.

"Please watch your language, director."

He glared as I grinned cheekily at him. "And what reason can you give me to NOT kick you out of this building and hand over the details to the press. Imagine "Pop idol Hoshina Utau kicked out of the SFE Building!" on the front headlines, do you?"

"Plenty reason. I could kick your ass here and now, preventing you from kicking me out. I could plead to the press and make you seem like the bad guy. I could tell you I know your motive, and release that to the press. I mean, revenge on KIDS who aren't even high school yet?" I shook my head. "Oh please, that'll go well. You're reputation will go down the drain."

The director shook in anger. "Fine. So what do you want?"

Success #2! "Tell me everything about MF-eggs including strengths, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, so on. You will tell me the location of a certain Mashiro Rima as well, and give me control over all your security until I finish my business here."

He clenched his teeth, a small grinding sound making itself heard. "That's too much. Choose one of those three."

I looked coldly at him. "Fine. I want control over all the security here, which includes the surveillance cameras, the armed guards I know you keep, and everything pertaining to the security of your labs or your office."

The director gulped. His fist was so tight, his knuckles were white. "Fine."

Grinning, I made my way over to the desk, and pushed him off the chair. "If you please, all your security is on this computer, correct? Get off, you scum."

He glared, and tried to punch me. I merely moved my head, and punched him in the stomach. "Eru, you there?"

"You bet!" the small chara smirked. "Can I? Can I?"

Utau smiled. "Go ahead. Chara-nari! Lunatic Charm" After sending a wave of energy at the director, I looked at the results. He crumbled unconscious onto the floor. I got rid of my chara-nari and high-fived Eru.

Turning back to the desk, I noticed the intercom system, and turned it on. "I order everyone to stay away from the fourth floor today. People and security who work on the fourth floor may get the day off early. Everyone else, don't even think of slacking." And I hung up. I waited as everyone filed out, wondering why their director's voice sounded weird. Hey, it' not my fault I suck at impersonating his voice.

I then dialed Kukai. "Kukai! Infiltration success!"

I could hear the thumbs-up in his voice. "Good going, Utau! Now through the window?"

"You bet. I'll open it now." I opened the window to see Kukai and Nagihiko down below. Kukai was already in chara-nari, and Nagihiko was perched behind him on the skateboard, looking as if his being on the skateboard was a waste of time. I grinned before calling down to them. "No way are you standing behind Kukai on the skateboard, Fujisaki! You're going to be hauled up."

Both of them paled considerably, and I watched as they made their way quickly up the window. Both of them stumbled through, and landed ungracefully on the floor. Nagihiko looked at Kukai as he stood up. "I could've used chara-nari with Rhythm. I can jump huge heights when I'm Beat Jumper." He then asked me, "So why was I carried?"

Kukai's face when he heard this was priceless. I laughed as Kukai started spluttering.

"Well, we should go find Rima now. Who knows what's happening to her now?" Nagihiko said to them.

I stopped laughing, and I got my serious face on. "You're right. We should check out the MF lab next door, we could find clues there."

Nagihiko and Kukai nodded, and we went into the lab next door, and we were met by something we should have but didn't expect.

* * *

**Rima's POV**

I stared defiantly at my shoes. Yes, I was still traumatized by my kidnapping incident, and this room looked almost exactly like the place I was kept in. So I was trying to get rid of it by staring at my feet.

Considering this room was pretty much empty, the only way out was through the door. But I wasn't strong enough without Kusu Kusu to break down the door. Speaking of her, where did she go? I really wish she was here…

Once again traumatizing moments of my childhood appeared in my mind once more. I shook them out of my head with difficulty. And for the first time since I entered this room, I started to try and distract myself. With the door.

I looked at the hinges, to the bar like things at the top of the door, to the doorknob. I was trying to find some kind of weakness that I could exploit. But nope, everything was pretty sturdy, and I could have used Clown Drop in order to break it down…

But Kusu Kusu wasn't with me. So I sat there, trying to figure out a plan.

But… what were those sounds above me?

* * *

**Well here goes another chapter! It's pretty slow paced (from what I originally intended anyways) and it really did focus on Utau somewhat. Rima's trying to escape! I wonder what Nagihiko, Utau, and Kukai see up in the lab?**

**And a side note: Although I didn't mention them a lot, Eru, Iru, Daichi, Rhythm, Temari, and Kusu Kusu are with Utau, Kukai, and Nagihiko. They're still in the action!**

**Thanks to all my awesome reviewers, without whom I wouldn't continue this story! **

**Please R&R!**


End file.
